33. Saul replied, "You aren't able to go out there and fight that Philistine. You are too young. He's been a fighting man ever since he was a boy."
34. But David said to Saul, "I've been taking care of my father's sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock.
35. Then I would go after it and hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned around to attack me, I would grab hold of its hair. I would strike it down and kill it.
36. In fact, I've killed both a lion and a bear. I'll do the same thing to this Philistine. He isn't even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the living God to fight him.
37. "The Lord saved me from the paw of the lion. He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he'll save me from the powerful hand of this Philistine too." Saul said to David, "Go. And may the Lord be with you."
38. Then Saul dressed David in his own military clothes. He put a coat of armor on him. He put a bronze helmet on his head.
39. David put on Saul's sword over his clothes. He walked around for a while in all of that armor because he wasn't used to it. "I can't go out there in all of this armor," he said to Saul. "I'm not used to it." So he took it off.
40. Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath.
41. At that same time, the Philistine kept coming closer to David. The man who was carrying Goliath's shield walked along in front of him.
42. Goliath looked David over. He saw how young he was. He also saw how tanned and handsome he was. And he hated him.
43. He said to David, "Why are you coming at me with sticks? Do you think I'm only a dog?" The Philistine called down curses on David in the name of his god.