1 Samuel 17:4-11

17:4 Then a champion ¹  came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall. ²  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. ³  17:6 He had bronze shin guards ⁴  on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. 17:7 The shaft ⁵  of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels. ⁶  His shield bearer was walking before him.

17:8 Goliath ⁷  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁸  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁹  for yourselves a man so he may come down ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  each other!” 17:11 When Saul and all the Israelites ¹²  heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.

[17:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the man of the space between the two [armies].” See v. 23.

[17:4]  ² 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.

[17:5]  ³ 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.

[17:6]  ⁴ 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.

[17:7]  ⁵ tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “wood,” rather than the “arrow” (the reading of the Kethib).

[17:7]  ⁶ sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.

[17:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  ⁹ 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.

[17:8]  ¹⁰ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

[17:10]  ¹¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.

[17:11]  ¹² tn Heb “all Israel.”