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.
"He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel"  (1 Samuel 17:8).  This insulting procedure went on for forty days; and it is certain that the taunts and insults hurled at Israel varied from day to day.  Young found an interesting variation of these in the Jewish Targum.  "Goliath boasted that he was the one who killed Hophni and Phinehas and carried the ark away to the house of Dagon, and also that he had killed many Israelites."[4]  That these boastful insults were most certainly falsehoods was no problem whatever for a Philistine.