Discovery Box1 Samuel 17:4-11 
Context17:4 Then a champion 1 came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall. 2 17:5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor. The weight of his bronze body armor was five thousand shekels. 3 17:6 He had bronze shin guards 4 on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. 17:7 The shaft 5 of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels. 6 His shield bearer was walking before him.
17:8 Goliath 7 stood and called to Israel’s troops, 8 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose 9 for yourselves a man so he may come down 10 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 11 each other!” 17:11 When Saul and all the Israelites 12 heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.
1 tn Heb “the man of the space between the two [armies].” See v. 23.
2 tc Heb “his height was six cubits and a span” (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV). A cubit was approximately eighteen inches, a span nine inches. So, according to the Hebrew tradition, Goliath was about nine feet, nine inches tall (cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “over nine feet”; NCV “nine feet, four inches”; TEV “nearly 3 metres”). However, some Greek witnesses, Josephus, and a manuscript of 1 Samuel from Qumran read “four cubits and a span” here, that is, about six feet, nine inches (cf. NAB “six and a half feet”). This seems more reasonable; it is likely that Goliath’s height was exaggerated as the story was retold. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 286, 291.
3 sn Although the exact weight of Goliath’s defensive body armor is difficult to estimate in terms of modern equivalency, it was obviously quite heavy. Driver, following Kennedy, suggests a modern equivalent of about 220 pounds (100 kg); see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 139. Klein, taking the shekel to be equal to .403 ounces, arrives at a somewhat smaller weight of about 126 pounds (57 kg); see R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 175. But by any estimate it is clear that Goliath presented himself as a formidable foe indeed.
4 sn Or “greaves.” These were coverings (probably lined for comfort) that extended from about the knee to the ankle, affording protection for the shins of a warrior.
5 tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
6 sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
9 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.
10 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.
11 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.
12 tn Heb “all Israel.”
