So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
The Israelites chased the fleeing Philistines back home to their towns. The towns mentioned stood to the north and northwest of the battlefield (1 Samuel 17:52). David took Goliath’s head as a trophy of war to Jerusalem and put the giant’s weapons in his own tent temporarily (1 Samuel 17:54). They became memorials of God’s great deliverance on this occasion. It is unclear whether David took the giant’s head to Jerusalem, which was still a Jebusite city, immediately, or if he took it there later when David captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. Goliath’s sword eventually went to Nob near Jerusalem (1 Samuel 21:1-9). The central sanctuary (tabernacle) may have stood there even at this time.