17:8 Goliath 1 stood and called to Israel’s troops, 2 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose 3 for yourselves a man so he may come down 4 to me! 17:9 If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
3 tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.
4 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.