1 Samuel 17:1-19

Living Bible

17 The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul countered with a buildup of forces at Elah Valley. ³ So the Philistines and Israelis faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.

^4-7 Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was a giant of a man, measuring over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, a two-hundred-pound coat of mail, bronze leggings, and carried a bronze javelin several inches thick, tipped with a twenty-five-pound iron spearhead, and his armor bearer walked ahead of him with a huge shield.

⁸ He stood and shouted across to the Israelis, “Do you need a whole army to settle this? I will represent the Philistines, and you choose someone to represent you, and we will settle this in single combat! ⁹ If your man is able to kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, then you must be our slaves! ¹⁰ I defy the armies of Israel! Send me a man who will fight with me!”

¹¹ When Saul^[a] and the Israeli army heard this, they were dismayed and frightened. ¹² David (the son of aging Jesse, a member of the tribe of Judah who lived in Bethlehem) had seven older brothers. ¹³ The three oldest—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah—had already volunteered for Saul’s army to fight the Philistines. ^14-15 David was the youngest son and was on Saul’s staff on a part-time basis. He went back and forth to Bethlehem to help his father with the sheep. ¹⁶ For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening the Philistine giant strutted before the armies of Israel.

¹⁷ One day Jesse said to David, “Take this bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. ¹⁸ Give this cheese to their captain and see how the boys are getting along; and bring us back a letter^[b] from them!”

¹⁹ (Saul and the Israeli army were camped at the valley of Elah.)