And as David drew near he heard a noise of shouting. The Philistines shouted with a great shout, and the Israelites answered. And then there came a voice, like the voices of ten stout men in one, and called out something which David was too far away to understand. And when he came nearer, there he saw in the middle of the plain, with his back to the Philistines and his face to the army of Israel, a mighty giant. The giant was ten feet high, and all his clothes were made of brass. He had a helmet of brass upon his head, and a breastplate of brass upon his breast, and a target of brass upon his back, and boots of brass upon his feet. In one hand he carried a huge spear, in the other hand a sword. Before him went his squire, bearing his shield. And this is what the giant said, “Choose you a man for you,” he cried, “and let him come to me. If he be able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, ye shall be our servants, and serve us.” And not a man of all the hosts of Israel dared to go out and fight him. Then the soul of David was stirred within him. He spoke to the first man whom he met. “Tell me,” he said, “what does this mean?” And the man answered, “Yonder is Goliath, the giant of Gath. Every day he comes out at this hour and defies our army. King Saul has promised that whosoever shall face him and overcome him shall have a great reward in gold, and the hand of the princess, as well. But nobody is bold enough to try it.” David said, “I will try it.” So the word came to his brother Eliab that David had offered to fight Goliath; and Eliab did not like it. It seemed to him, as it often seems to older brothers, that the boy was still a child. As for King Saul, when they told him, he smiled and shook his head. “You are not able,” he said, “to fight with this Philistine, for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” But David said, “I have fought lions and bears since I was ten years old. I have seized them by the beard and killed them. I can do the same with this Philistine. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Even so, it seemed like the proposal of a lamb to fight a wolf. But what else could be done? At last, the king took David into his own tent, and offered him his armor. But the king was the tallest man in the army, and the shepherd boy was short of stature. Saul’s helmet came down over David’s ears, and his coat of mail touched David’s heels. He put them off. “I can fight best,” he said, “in my own way.” And David took his staff in his hand,--the stout stick with which he kept the sheep,--and he had his sling, and from the bank of the brook he chose him five smooth stones. And thus he went out into the plain between the armies, and faced the giant.