1 Samuel 17:8

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!

1 Samuel 17:51

17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s ⁵  sword, drew it from its sheath, ⁶  killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.

[17:8]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ² tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  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.

[17:8]  ⁴ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

[17:51]  ⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:51]  ⁶ tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”