¹ And the Philistines gathered together their hosts, unto battle, and they were gathered together unto Socoh, which belongeth unto Judah,—and they encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim;

² and, Saul and the men of Israel, gathered themselves together, and encamped in the vale of Elah, and set the army in array against the Philistines.

³ And, the Philistines, were standing near the hill on one side, and, the Israelites, were standing near the hill on the other side,—while, the valley, was between them.

⁴ And there came forth a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, Goliath, his name, from Gath,—his height, six cubits and a span;

⁵ with a helmet of bronze on his head, and, with a scaly coat of mail, was he clad,—the weight of the coat, being five thousand shekels of bronze;

⁶ and, greaves of bronze, on his feet,—and, a javelin of bronze, between his shoulders;

⁷ and, the shaft of his spear, was like a weaver’s beam, and, the flashing head of his spear, was six hundred shekels of iron,—and, his shield-bearer, was coming on before him.

⁸ And he took his stand, and cried unto the ranks of Israel, and said unto them, Wherefore should ye come out, to set in array for battle? Am not, I, a Philistine, while, ye, are servants unto Saul? Choose you a man, and let him come down unto me:

⁹ If he prevail in fighting with me, and smite me, then will we become your servants,—but, if, I, prevail over him, and smite him, then shall ye become our servants, and serve, us.

¹⁰ And the Philistine said—I, reproach the ranks of Israel, this day,—give me a man, that we may fight together.

¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and feared exceedingly.

¹² Now, David, was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-judah, whose, name, was Jesse, and, who, had eight sons,—and, the man, in the days of Saul was old, advanced in years.

¹³ And the three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle,—and, the names of his three sons who went into the battle, were Eliab the firstborn, and, the next to him, Abinadab, and, the third, Shammah.

¹⁴ But, as for David, he, was the youngest,—and, the three eldest, followed Saul;

¹⁵ whereas, David, kept going and returning from Saul,—to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ And the Philistine drew near morning and evening,—and presented himself forty days.

¹⁷ And Jesse said unto David his son, Take, I pray thee, unto thy brethren—this ephah of parched corn, and these ten loaves,—and run to the camp unto thy brethren;

¹⁸ also these ten slices of soft cheese, shalt thou take to the captain of their thousand,—and, as for thy brethren, give good heed to their welfare, their pledge, also shalt thou receive.

¹⁹ Now, Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the vale of Elah, ready to fight with the Philistines.

²⁰ So then David rose up early in the morning, and entrusted the sheep to a keeper, and took up [the provisions] and went his way, as Jesse had commanded him,—and came into the circular rampart, as, the force, was going forth into the ranks, and shouted for the fight.

²¹ So Israel and the Philistines set in array for battle, army against army.

²² Then David entrusted the provisions that were upon him to the care of the keeper of the stores, and ran unto the ranks,—and came and asked for the welfare of his brethren.

²³ Now, as he was speaking with them, lo! the champion coming up, Goliath the Philistine, by name, of Gath, [coming up] out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he spake according to these words,—and David heard [them] .

²⁴ Now, all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from before him, and feared exceedingly.

²⁵ And the men of Israel said—Have ye seen this man that is coming up? For, to reproach Israel, is he coming. So then it shall be, that, the man that shall smite him, the same, will the king enrich with great riches, and, his own daughter, will give him, and, his father’s house, will he make free in Israel.

²⁶ Then spake David unto the men that were standing by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that shall smite yonder Philistine, and so shall take away reproach from off Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he hath reproached the ranks of a Living God?

²⁷ And the people answered him, according to this word saying,—So, shall it be done to the man that shall smite him.

²⁸ Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men,—then was kindled the anger of Eliab against David, and he said—Wherefore is it that thou hast come down? and to whom hast thou entrusted those few sheep in the wilderness? I, know thy pride, and the foolishness of thy heart, for, to see the battle, hast thou come down.

²⁹ And David said, What have I done, now? Was there not, a cause?

³⁰ Then turned he from him unto another, and said—according to this word,—and the people returned him an answer, like the first.

³¹ And the words which David spake were overheard,—and, when they told them before Saul, he summoned him.

³² And David said unto Saul, Let not the heart of my lord fail, because of him,—thy servant, will go, and fight with this Philistine.

³³ And Saul said unto David—Thou art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him,—for, a youth, art, thou, but, he, a man of war, from his youth.

³⁴ Then said David unto Saul, Thy servant used to tend his father’s sheep,—and there would come a lion, or a bear, and carry off a lamb out of the flock;

³⁵ and I would go out after him, and smite him, and rescue it out of his mouth,—and, if he rose against me, I would catch him by his beard, and smite him, and slay him.

³⁶ Thy servant could slay, either a lion or a bear,—and, this uncircumcised Philistine, shall become, as one of them, for he hath reproached the ranks of a Living God.

³⁷ And David said, Yahweh, who hath rescued me out of the power of the lion, and out of the power of the bear, he, will rescue us out of the hand of this Philistine. Then said Saul unto David—Go! and, Yahweh, will be with thee.

³⁸ And Saul clad David with his own military coat, and set a helmet of bronze upon his head,—and clad him with a coat of mail.

³⁹ And David girded his sword above his military coat, but was reluctant to go, for he had not proved them,—so David said unto Saul—I cannot go in these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

⁴⁰ Then took he his stick in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the torrent-bed, and put them in the shepherd’s-pouch which he had—even in the wallet, and had his sling in his hand,—and so drew near unto the Philistine.