24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.”
17:4 Then a champion 3 came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall. 4 17:5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor. The weight of his bronze body armor was five thousand shekels. 5 17:6 He had bronze shin guards 6 on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. 17:7 The shaft 7 of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels. 8 His shield bearer was walking before him.
17:8 Goliath 9 stood and called to Israel’s troops, 10 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose 11 for yourselves a man so he may come down 12 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.” 17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight 13 each other!” 17:11 When Saul and all the Israelites 14 heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.
17:12 15 Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem 16 in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. 17 17:13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the 18 three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the third oldest. 17:14 Now David was the youngest. While the three oldest sons followed Saul, 17:15 David was going back and forth 19 from Saul in order to care for his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
17:16 Meanwhile for forty days the Philistine approached every morning and evening and took his position. 17:17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread; go quickly 20 to the camp to your brothers. 17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. 21 Find out how your brothers are doing 22 and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. 23 17:19 They are with Saul and the whole Israelite army 24 in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”
17:20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it. 25 After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp 26 as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry. 17:21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite one another. 17:22 After David had entrusted his cargo to the care of the supply officer, 27 he ran to the battlefront. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. 17:23 As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did, 28 and David heard it. 17:24 When all the men of Israel saw this man, they retreated 29 from his presence and were very afraid.
10:6 Fools 34 are placed in many positions of authority, 35
while wealthy men sit in lowly positions.
10:16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is childish, 36
and your princes feast in the morning!
1 tn Heb “there is not in my hand.”
2 tn Heb “Israel.”
3 tn Heb “the man of the space between the two [armies].” See v. 23.
4 tc Heb “his height was six cubits and a span” (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV). A cubit was approximately eighteen inches, a span nine inches. So, according to the Hebrew tradition, Goliath was about nine feet, nine inches tall (cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “over nine feet”; NCV “nine feet, four inches”; TEV “nearly 3 metres”). However, some Greek witnesses, Josephus, and a manuscript of 1 Samuel from Qumran read “four cubits and a span” here, that is, about six feet, nine inches (cf. NAB “six and a half feet”). This seems more reasonable; it is likely that Goliath’s height was exaggerated as the story was retold. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 286, 291.
5 sn Although the exact weight of Goliath’s defensive body armor is difficult to estimate in terms of modern equivalency, it was obviously quite heavy. Driver, following Kennedy, suggests a modern equivalent of about 220 pounds (100 kg); see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 139. Klein, taking the shekel to be equal to .403 ounces, arrives at a somewhat smaller weight of about 126 pounds (57 kg); see R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 175. But by any estimate it is clear that Goliath presented himself as a formidable foe indeed.
6 sn Or “greaves.” These were coverings (probably lined for comfort) that extended from about the knee to the ankle, affording protection for the shins of a warrior.
7 tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
8 sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
11 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.
12 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.
13 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.
14 tn Heb “all Israel.”
15 tc Some
16 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
17 tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”
18 tn Heb “his.”
19 tn Heb “was going and returning.”
20 tn Heb “run.”
21 tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”
22 tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”
23 tn Heb “and their pledge take.” This probably refers to some type of confirmation that the goods arrived safely. See R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 177. Cf. NIV “bring back some assurance”; NCV “some proof to show me they are all right”; NLT “bring me back a letter from them.”
24 tn Heb “all the men of Israel.”
25 tn Heb “to a guard”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “with a keeper”; NIV “with a shepherd.” Since in contemporary English “guard” sounds like someone at a military installation or a prison, the present translation uses “to someone else who would watch over it.”
26 tn Or “entrenchment.”
27 tn Heb “the guard of the equipment.”
28 tn Heb “according to these words.”
29 tn Or “fled.”
30 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Heb “an officer of a thousand.”
32 tn Heb “and he went out and came in before the people.” See v. 16.
33 tn Heb “when I see.”
34 tn Heb “folly.”
35 tn Heb “high places.”
36 tn Or “a child”; or “a servant.” The term נַעַר (na’ar) has a wide range of meanings (HALOT 707 s.v. נַעַר; BDB 654–55 s.v. II נַעַר). Used in reference to age, it may refer to an infant (Exod 2:6; Judg 13:5; 1 Sam 1:22; 4:21; 2 Sam 12:16), a child just weaned (1 Sam 1:24), an adolescent in puberty (1 Sam 16:11), or a young man of marriageable age (Gen 34:19; 2 Sam 14:21; 18:5, 12). Its technical or titular use denotes “servant” (Num 22:22; Judg 7:10-11; 19:3; 1 Sam 3:9; 2 Sam 16:1; 2 Kgs 4:12, 25; 19:6), “retainer; attendant; follower” (Gen 14:24; 1 Sam 25:5; 2 Sam 2:14; 2 Kgs 19:6; Isa 37:6; Job 1:15-17; Neh 4:10, 17) and “soldier” (1 Kgs 20:15-16). The parallel Ugaritic term is used in reference to physical age (lad; son; youth) and in a technical sense (guild members; servitors; soldiers); see UT 19.445. The LXX rendered it with νεώτερος (newteros, “youthful”). The English versions vary: “child,” (KJV, ASV, NASB, MLB, RSV, NRSV margin, NIV margin); “childish” (NIV margin); “servant” or “slave” (NEB, NAB, ASV margin, NRSV, NIV); and “lackey” (NJPS). When used in reference to rulers, it emphasizes incompetence, naiveté, inexperience, and immaturity (Isa 3:4, 9; 1 Kgs 3:7). This use must be understood in the light of the parallel antonym: “son of freemen” (בֶּן־חוֹרִים, ben-khorim). This suggests “servant,” that is, one who was not well trained and prepared by noble birth to ascend to the throne.
37 tn Heb “the son of the king.” Many of the commentaries express doubt that this actually refers to Jehoiakim’s own son since Jehoiakim was only about thirty at this time and one of his sons would not have been old enough to have been in such a position of authority. The same doubt is expressed about the use of this term in 38:6 and in 1 Kgs 22:26. The term need not refer to the ruling king’s own son but one of the royal princes.
38 tc The reading ἐπρίσθησαν (ejprisqhsan, “they were sawed apart”) is found in some important witnesses (Ì46 [D* twice reads ἐπίρσθησαν, “they were burned”?] pc syp sa Orpt Eus). Other