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!
17:28 When David’s 5 oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry 6 with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! 7 You have come down here to watch the battle!”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
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.
4 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.
5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “the anger of Eliab became hot.”
7 tn Heb “the wickedness of your heart.”