1 Samuel 17:4-23

4Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall!

5He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.

6He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder.

7The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

8Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me!

9If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!

10I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!”

11When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

12Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. Jesse was an old man at that time, and he had eight sons.

13Jesse’s three oldest sons—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea—had already joined Saul’s army to fight the Philistines.

14David was the youngest son. David’s three oldest brothers stayed with Saul’s army,

15but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem.

16For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.

17One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers.

18And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.”

19David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

20So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries.

21Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army.

22David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers.

23As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.