32. David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone’s heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33. But Saul said to David, “You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are only a boy, whereas he has been a man of war since his childhood!”
34. And David said to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group,
35. I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab it by its beard and strike it down and kill it.
36. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God.”
37. And David said, “Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go and may Yahweh be with you!”
38. Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with body armor.
39. Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk around, for he was not trained to use them. So David said to Saul, “I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use them.” So David removed them.
40. Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41. Then the Philistine came on, getting nearer and nearer to David, with his shield bearer in front of him.
42. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance.
43. So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!”