19. King Saul, your brothers, and all the other Israelites are in the Valley of Elah fighting the Philistines.”
20. David got up early the next morning, left someone else in charge of the sheep, took the food, and went as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelites were going out to their battle line, shouting the war cry.
21. The Philistine and the Israelite armies took up positions for battle, facing each other.
22. David left the food with the officer in charge of the supplies, ran to the battle line, went to his brothers, and asked how they were getting on.
23. As he was talking to them, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before. And David heard him.
24. When the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror.
25. “Look at him!” they said to each other. “Listen to his challenge! King Saul has promised to give a big reward to the man who kills him; the king will also give him his daughter to marry and will not require his father's family to pay taxes.”
26. David asked the men who were near him, “What will the man get who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from this disgrace? After all, who is this heathen Philistine to defy the army of the living God?”
27. They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.
28. Eliab, David's eldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He was angry with David and said, “What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You cheeky brat, you! You just came to watch the fighting!”
29. “Now what have I done?” David asked. “Can't I even ask a question?”
30. He turned to another man and asked him the same question, and every time he asked, he got the same answer.
31. Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him.
32. David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”
33. “No,” answered Saul. “How could you fight him? You're just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!”
34. “Your Majesty,” David said, “I take care of my father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear carries off a lamb,