1 Samuel 17:12–31

¹²Now David was ^athe son of ¹the ^bEphrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and ^che had eight sons. And ²Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men.

¹³The three older sons of Jesse had ¹gone after Saul to the battle. And ^athe names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

^14aDavid was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul,

^15abut David went back and forth from Saul ^bto tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

¹⁶The Philistine came ¹forward morning and evening for forty days and took his stand.

¹⁷Then Jesse said to David his son, “^aTake now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers.

¹⁸“^aBring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, ^band look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back ¹news of them.

¹⁹“For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

David Accepts the Challenge

²⁰So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the ^acircle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry.

²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army.

²²Then David left his ^abaggage in the ¹care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers.

²³As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke ^athese same words; and David heard them.

²⁴When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid.

²⁵The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and ^awill give him his daughter and make his father’s house ¹free in Israel.”

²⁶Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away ^athe reproach from Israel? For who is this ^buncircumcised Philistine, that he should ^ctaunt the armies of ^dthe living God?”

²⁷The people ¹answered him in accord with this word, saying, “^aThus it will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and ^aEliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”

²⁹But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a ¹question?”

³⁰Then he turned ¹away from him to another and ^asaid the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as ²before.

David Kills Goliath

³¹When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them ¹to Saul, and he sent for him.