12 [fn]Now David was the son of Yishay (from the Efrat clan, he lived in Bethlehem in Yehudah) who had eight sons, and by Sha’ul’s time, was quite old compared to other men.[fn] 13 Yishay’s three oldest sons (Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah) had gone to the battle with Sha’ul, 14 but David was the youngest. While the three oldest were with Sha’ul, 15 David went back and forth between Sha’ul’s camp and looking after his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

16 For forty days, the Philistine champion came out and presented himself in the early morning and again in the evening.

17 One day Yishay said to his son David, “Here’s a sack of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread. Take them straight away to your brothers at the camp. 18 And take these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their unit. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back anything they want to send to me. 19 Sha’ul and them and the other warriors are in the Elah valley, fighting against the Philistines.”

20 So David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a shepherd, and set out just like Yishay had told him to. When he got to the battleground and the camp, the warriors were just going out to the battle line and they were shouting the battle cry. 21 The Israelis and the Philistines arranged themselves—battle line to battle line. 22 David left what he’d brought with a guard, and ran into the battle line. Then he caught up with his brothers and asked them how they were doing. 23 While he was talking with them, look, the Philistine champion from Gat was coming out with his challenge. Goliat spoke like he had before and David heard it all. 24 But when the Israelis saw the champion, they were terrified and fled away from him. 25 saying to each other, “Have you seen this man who’s coming out? He’s certainly coming to mock Yisrael! Any man who can defeat him will be made very wealthy by the king, and he’ll give his daughter to him, plus his extended family will be exempt from paying taxes.”

26 “What was it that’ll be done for the man who kills this Philistine and take’s Yisrael’s disgrace away?” David asked some of the men standing around him. “Because who does that uncircumcised Philistine think he is that he would taunt the army of the living God?” 27 Then the men told him again what would be given to the man who defeats him.

28 But when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men, he got very angry and scolded him, “Why have you come down here? Who’s looking after those few sheep that you left in the desert? I know you have a big head and you’re just a troublemaker—you just want to watch the battle.”

29 “What have I done now?” David asked. “Wasn’t it just a question?” 30 Then he went over to another group and asked the same question and got the same answer.

31 So it got around what David was saying, and when Sha’ul heard about it, he sent for him. 32 David told the king, “Don’t be discouraged. Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine.”

33 “You can’t go against this Philistine and fight him,” Sha’ul told David. “You’re still a lad, but he’s been a professional warrior since he was young.”

34 “Your servant has been working for his father tending the flock,” David replied. “Sometimes a lion or a bear has come and taken a sheep from the flock 35 and I would go after it and beat it and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it went to attack me, then I’d grasp it by the jaw and beat it and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear, and that uncircumcised Philistine will end up just like them, because he’s insulted the army of the living God.” 37 Then he added, “Yahweh who has saved me from the lion and from the bear, he will be the one to save me from that Philistine.”

“Go then, and Yahweh be with you.” Sha’ul assented. 38 Then Sha’ul had David dressed in his own battle attire, and then in body armour with a bronze helmet. 39 David strapped his sword over the top and then tried to walk because he hadn’t been trained in wearing it. But he told Sha’ul, “I couldn’t walk in all that without practice,” so he took it all off. 40 Then he picked up his staff, and selected five smooth stones from the riverbed. He placed them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag, and picked up his sling and headed towards the Philistine champion.