And when Saul went forth with the troops _from Jerusalem, and it was violently hot weather, and they demanded of him water_, he said, Verily God will try you by a river, _that the obedient among you, and the disobedient, may appear_, (_and it was between the Jordan and Palestine_,) and whoso drinketh thereof, he is not of my party (but he who tasteth not thereof, he is of my party), excepting him who taketh forth a draught in his hand, _and is satisfied therewith, not adding to it; for he is of my party_;—then they drank thereof abundantly, excepting a few of them, _who were content only with the handful of water. It is related that it sufficed them for their own drinking and for their beasts, and they were three hundred, and somewhat more than ten._ And when he had passed over it, he and those who believed with him, they (_that is, those who had drunk_ [plentifully]) said, We have no power to-day _to contend_ against Goliath and his troops. _And they were cowardly, and passed not over it._ They [however] who held it as certain that they should meet God _at the resurrection_ (_and they were those who had passed over it_) said, How many a small body of men hath overcome a great body by the permission (_or will_) of God! And God is with the patient, _to defend and aid_.—And when they went forth to battle against Goliath and his troops, they said, O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and make firm our feet, _by strengthening our hearts for the holy war_, and help us against the unbelieving people!—And they routed them by the permission (_or will_) of God, and David [Dáwood, vulg. Dáood], _who was in the army of Saul_, slew Goliath. And God gave him (_David_) the kingship _over the children of Israel_, and wisdom (_that is prophecy_), _after the death of Samuel and Saul, and they_ [namely these two gifts] _had not been given together to any one before him_; and He taught him what He pleased,[310] _as the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds_. And were it not for God’s repelling men, one by another, surely the earth had become corrupt _by the predominance of the polytheists and the slaughter of the Muslims and the ruin of the places of worship_: but God is beneficent to the peoples, _and hath repelled some by others_.