Daily Bread: Saturday, May 05, 2018

¹⁷ And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah^[a] of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. ^18 (A)Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. ^(B)See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.”

¹⁹ Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰ And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to ^(C)the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹ And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. ²² And David left the ^(D)things in charge of the keeper of the ^(E)baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, behold, ^(F)the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke ^(G)the same words as before. And David heard him.

²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. ²⁵ And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to ^(H)defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches ^(I)and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.” ²⁶ And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away ^(J)the reproach from Israel? For who is this ^(K)uncircumcised Philistine, that he should ^(L)defy the armies of ^(M)the living God?” ²⁷ And the people answered him in the same way, ^(N)“So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”

²⁸ Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” ²⁹ And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” ³⁰ And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke ^(O)in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.

³¹ When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³² And David said to Saul, ^(P)“Let no man's heart fail because of him. ^(Q)Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, ^(R)for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, ^(S)“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, ^(T)and the Lord be with you!”

³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹ and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.