1 Samuel 17:4
ContextNETBible | 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 |
XREF | De 3:11; Jos 11:22; 1Sa 17:23; 1Sa 21:9,10; 1Sa 27:4; 2Sa 21:16-22; 2Sa 21:19; 1Ch 11:23; 1Ch 20:4-8; 1Ch 20:5; Am 2:9 |
NET © Notes |
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. |