²³ As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did,^[a] and David heard it. ²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw this man, they retreated^[b] from his presence and were very afraid.

²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? He does so^[c] to defy Israel. But the king will make the man who can strike him down very wealthy! He will give him his daughter in marriage, and he will make his father’s house exempt from tax obligations in Israel.”