¹² Now David was Jesse’s son, an Ephraimite from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. By Saul’s time, Jesse was already quite old and far along in age.^{[a] 13} Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. Their names were Eliab the oldest, Abinadab the second oldest, and Shammah the third oldest. ¹⁴ (David was the youngest.) These three older sons followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul’s side to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days straight the Philistine came out and took his stand, both morning and evening. ¹⁷ Jesse said to his son David, “Please take your brothers an ephah^[b] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread. Deliver them quickly to your brothers in the camp. ¹⁸ And here, take these ten wedges of cheese to their unit commander. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back some sign that they are okay. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the Israelite troops fighting the Philistines in the Elah Valley.”

²⁰ So David got up early in the morning, left someone in charge of the flock, and loaded up and left, just as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp right when the army was taking up their battle formations and shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines took up their battle formations opposite each other. ²² David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing. ²³ Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened. ²⁴ When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. (²⁵ Now the Israelite soldiers had been saying to each other: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? How he comes to insult Israel? The king will reward with great riches whoever kills that man. The king will give his own daughter to him and make his household exempt from taxes^[c] in Israel.”)

²⁶ David asked the soldiers standing by him, “What will be done for the person who kills that Philistine over there and removes this insult from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine, anyway, that he can get away with insulting the army of the living God?”

²⁷ Then the troops repeated to him what they had been saying. “So that’s what will be done for the man who kills him,” they said.

²⁸ When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the soldiers, he got very mad at David. “Why did you come down here?” he said. “Who is watching those few sheep for you in the wilderness? I know how arrogant you are and your devious plan: you came down just to see the battle!”

²⁹ “What did I do wrong this time?” David replied. “It was just a question!”

³⁰ So David turned to someone else and asked the same thing, and the people said the same thing in reply. ³¹ The things David had said were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.