Discovery Box1 Samuel 17:8-11
Context17:8 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.” 17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight 5 each other!” 17:11 When Saul and all the Israelites 6 heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.
1 Samuel 17:2
Context17:2 Saul and the Israelite army 7 assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against 8 the Philistines.
1 Samuel 18:28
Context18:28 When Saul realized 9 that the Lord was with David and that his 10 daughter Michal loved David, 11
1 Samuel 18:2
Context18:2 Saul retained David 12 on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house.
1 Samuel 1:18
Context1:18 She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. 13 Her face no longer looked sad.
Psalms 17:10-13
Contextthey speak arrogantly. 15
17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; 16
they intend to throw me to the ground. 17
17:12 He 18 is like a lion 19 that wants to tear its prey to bits, 20
like a young lion crouching 21 in hidden places.
17:13 Rise up, Lord!
Confront him! 22 Knock him down! 23
Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! 24
Psalms 73:8-9
Context73:8 They mock 25 and say evil things; 26
they proudly threaten violence. 27
73:9 They speak as if they rule in heaven,
and lay claim to the earth. 28
Psalms 82:6-7
Context82:6 I thought, 29 ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’ 30
82:7 Yet you will die like mortals; 31
you will fall like all the other rulers.” 32
[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.
[17:10] 5 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.
[17:11] 6 tn Heb “all Israel.”
[17:2] 7 tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”
[18:28] 9 tn Heb “saw and knew.”
[18:28] 10 tn Heb “Saul’s.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.
[18:28] 11 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:2] 12 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:18] 13 tc Several medieval Hebrew
[17:10] 14 tn Heb “their fat they close.” The Hebrew term חֵלֶב (khelev, “fat”) appears to stand by metonymy for their calloused hearts. They attack the psalmist without feeling any pity or remorse. Some propose emending the text to חֵלֶב לִבָּמוֹ (khelev libbamo, “fat of their heart[s]; cf. Ps 119:70, “their heart is insensitive like fat”). This assumes haplography of the לב (lamed-bet) consonantal sequence.
[17:10] 15 tn Heb “[with] their mouth they speak with arrogance.”
[17:11] 16 tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).
[17:11] 17 tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”
[17:12] 18 tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.
[17:12] 19 tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”
[17:12] 20 tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”
[17:13] 22 tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”
[17:13] 23 tn Or “bring him to his knees.”
[17:13] 24 tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”
[73:8] 25 tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.
[73:8] 26 tn Heb “and speak with evil.”
[73:8] 27 tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.
[73:9] 28 tn Heb “they set in heaven their mouth, and their tongue walks through the earth.” The meaning of the text is uncertain. Perhaps the idea is that they lay claim to heaven (i.e., speak as if they were ruling in heaven) and move through the earth declaring their superiority and exerting their influence. Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) the first line as adversative and translate, “they set their mouth against heaven,” that is, they defy God.
[82:6] 30 sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).
[82:7] 31 tn Heb “men.” The point in the context is mortality, however, not maleness.
[82:7] 32 tn Heb “like one of the rulers.” The comparison does not necessarily imply that they are not rulers. The expression “like one of” can sometimes mean “as one of” (Gen 49:16; Obad 11) or “as any other of” (Judg 16:7, 11).
