Passage
If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then wil we be your seruants: but if I ouercome him, and kill him, then shall yee be our seruants, and serue vs.
1 Samuel 17:9 (GNV)
Nearby Context
1 Samuel 17:7 And the shaft of his speare was like a weauers beame: and his speare head weyed sixe hundreth shekels of yron: and one bearing a shielde went before him.
1 Samuel 17:8 And he stoode, and cried against the hoste of Israel, and saide vnto them, Why are yee come to set your battell in aray? am not I a Philistim, and you seruaunts to Saul? chuse you a man for you, and let him come downe to me.
1 Samuel 17:9 If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then wil we be your seruants: but if I ouercome him, and kill him, then shall yee be our seruants, and serue vs.
1 Samuel 17:10 Also the Philistim saide, I defie the hoste of Israel this day: giue mee a man, that we may fight together.
1 Samuel 17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard those wordes of the Philistim, they were discouraged, and greatly afraide.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "able", "fight", "kill", "seruants", "ouercome", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "able" and "fight", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 8's "And he stoode and cried against the..." into verse 10's "Also the Philistim saide I defie the...", so "able" and "fight" 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 "able" and "fight" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.