And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that comes up? for to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who smites him, him will the king enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
1 Samuel 17:23 And as he talked with them, behold there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words; and David heard [them].
1 Samuel 17:24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were greatly afraid.
1 Samuel 17:25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that comes up? for to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who smites him, him will the king enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
1 Samuel 17:26 And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that smites this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
1 Samuel 17:27 And the people told him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that smites him.
The verse centers on "israel", "said", "seen", "comes", "defy", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "israel" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 24's "And all the men of Israel when..." into verse 26's "And David spoke to the men that...", so "israel" and "said" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "israel" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.