Your servant: the pronoun “I” will be more appropriate in most languages. See the comments on verse 32. David insists that he is qualified to fight because of his experience in killing wild animals that had attacked the sheep he was guarding.

Uncircumcised Philistine: see verse 26.

Shall be like one of them: in comparing the Philistine enemy to the lions and bears, David is claiming that he will kill the enemy. In some languages it will be appropriate to state clearly how Goliath and the animals are alike. Some may say “will be as dead as they are.”

Defied … the living God: see verse 26.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .