20David got up early in the morning and left the sheep with someone who would watch them. He took the supplies and set out as Jesse had commanded him. He arrived at the outer defense line of the camp just as the army was marching out to line up in battle formation, shouting war cries as they went. 21Israel and the Philistines were lining up for battle, one formation against the other. 22After David had handed over his provisions to the supply officer, he ran to the battlefront, where he met and greeted his brothers.
23As he was talking with them there, he saw the Philistine challenger named Goliath of Gath coming up out of the ranks of the Philistines. He repeated his usual words, and David heard them. 24(Whenever they saw the man, all the men of Israel fled from him and were terrified.) 25An Israelite had said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He keeps coming up to taunt Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him. He will give his daughter to him in marriage and make his father's house exempt from taxes in Israel.”
26David spoke to the men who stood near him. He asked, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who dares to defy the troops of the living God?”
27The people again told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.
28When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David speaking to the men, he burned with anger against David. He said, “Why have you come down? Who is taking care of those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the mischief in your heart. You have come down just to see the battle.”
29David said, “What have I done now? Can't I say anything?”[] 30So David turned away from him toward another person, and he asked the same thing again, and the soldiers again answered him the same way. 31When they heard what David said, they reported it to Saul, and he sent for David. 32David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone lose heart because of this Philistine! Your servant will go and fight him.” 33But Saul said to David, “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior since he was a youth.”
34David said to Saul, “Your servant has been taking care of his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it and rescued the lamb out of its mouth. When the lion reared up against me, I grabbed it by its mane, struck it, and killed it. 36Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the ranks of the living God.” 37David added, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go then! May the Lord be with you.” 38So Saul dressed David in his own gear.[] He placed a bronze helmet on his head and dressed him in scaled body armor. 39David strapped his sword over his gear. David tried to walk around in them, since he had never trained with this kind of equipment before. David said to Saul, “I cannot go in these, because I have never trained with them.” So David took them off.
40Then David took his staff in his hand and picked five smooth stones out of the stream bed and put them into the pouch of his shepherd's bag. He took his sling in his hand and approached the Philistine.
41The Philistine kept walking and got closer and closer to David. The man who was carrying his shield was walking ahead of him. 42When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him, because David was just a boy, nothing but a good-looking, red-headed boy.[] 43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will feed your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the countryside.”
45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. 46Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth. Then all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, 47and all those gathered here will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle belongs to the Lord, and he will deliver you into our hand.”
