17:8 Goliath 3 stood and called to Israel’s troops, 4 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose 5 for yourselves a man so he may come down 6 to me!
‘Saul struck down his thousands,
But David his tens of thousands’?”
22:6 But Saul found out the whereabouts of David and the men who were with him. 7 Now Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at an elevated location with his spear in hand and all his servants stationed around him.
1 tn Heb “and he will play with his hand.”
2 tn Heb “and it will be better for you.”
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
5 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.
6 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.
7 tn Heb “and Saul heard that David and the men who were with him were known.”
8 tn Heb “runners.”
9 tn Heb “their hand is.”
10 tn Heb “to extend their hand to harm.”