1 Samuel 17:20-26

New English Translation

²⁰ So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it.^[a] After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp^[b] as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite one another. ²² After David had entrusted his cargo to the care of the supply officer,^[c] he ran to the battlefront. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. ²³ As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did,^[d] and David heard it. ²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw this man, they retreated^[e] from his presence and were very afraid.

²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? He does so^[f] to defy Israel. But the king will make the man who can strike him down very wealthy! He will give him his daughter in marriage, and he will make his father’s house exempt from tax obligations in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation?^[g] For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”