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!
1 tc The MT has a plural “you” here, but the LXX and a Qumran
2 tn Heb “which I commanded, dwelling place.” The noun is functioning as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb. Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation.
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.