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.
32. "Don’t let anyone lose courage because of this Philistine!" David told Saul. "I, your servant, will go out and fight him!"
33. "You can’t go out and fight this Philistine," Saul answered David. "You are still a boy. But he’s been a warrior since he was a boy!"
34. "Your servant has kept his father’s sheep," David replied to Saul, “and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock,
35. I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it.
36. Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.
37. "The Lord," David added, "who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.""Go!" Saul replied to David. "And may the Lord be with you!"
38. Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
39. David strapped his sword on over the armor, but he couldn’t walk around well because he’d never tried it before. "I can’t walk in this," David told Saul, "because I’ve never tried it before." So he took them off.
40. He then grabbed his staff and chose five smooth stones from the streambed. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and with sling in hand went out to the Philistine.
41. The Philistine got closer and closer to David, and his shield-bearer was in front of him.
42. When the Philistine looked David over, he sneered at David because he was just a boy; reddish brown and good-looking.
43. The Philistine asked David, "Am I some sort of dog that you come at me with sticks?" And he cursed David by his gods.
44. "Come here," he said to David, "and I’ll feed your flesh to the wild birds and the wild animals!"
45. But David told the Philistine, "You are coming against me with sword, spear, and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel’s army, the one you’ve insulted.