Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
This paragraph relates chiefly the appearance of Goliath of Gath, giving a description of him, his arrogant challenge and the dismay and fear that fell upon all Israel as a result.  The scene of this confrontation was, "The valley of Elah, one of the major passes from the Philistine plain up to the highlands of Judah."[2]