Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”
1 Samuel 17:26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills 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 The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”
1 Samuel 17:28 Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”
1 Samuel 17:29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
1 Samuel 17:30 He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way.
The verse centers on "sheep", "eliab", "oldest", "brother", "heard", "spoke", "anger", and "burned". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sheep" and "eliab", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 27's "The people answered him in this way..." into verse 29's "David said What have I now done...", so "sheep" and "eliab" 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 "sheep" and "eliab" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.