1 Samuel 17:12-36

New International Version

¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite^(A) named Jesse,^(B) who was from Bethlehem^(C) in Judah. Jesse had eight^(D) sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab;^(E) the second, Abinadab;^(F) and the third, Shammah.^{(G) 14} David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend^(H) his father’s sheep^(I) at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[a](J) of roasted grain^(K) and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers^(L) are and bring back some assurance^[b] from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies,^(M) ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual^(N) defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter^(O) in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes^(P) in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace^(Q) from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised^(R) Philistine that he should defy^(S) the armies of the living^(T) God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger^(U) at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart^(V) on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied,^(W) “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion^(X) or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized^(Y) it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion^(Z) and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.