The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
David Accepts the Challenge
1 Samuel 17:12–37 — David Accepts the Challenge. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
12Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḏā·wiḏ ben- ’îš ū·šə·mōw yi·šay ’ep̄·rā·ṯî haz·zeh mib·bêṯ le·ḥem yə·hū·ḏāh wə·lōw šə·mō·nāh ḇā·nîm wə·hā·’îš bî·mê šā·’ūl zā·qên bā ḇa·’ă·nā·šîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-David [was] son-of a-man, an-Ephrathite, this-one, from-Beth-lechem Judah — and-his-name Jesse; and-to-him eight sons. And-the-man in-the-days-of Saul was-old, gone-among-men.
Where the English smooths the original
The passage, as we find it, is undoubtedly genuine; the probable explanation of what puzzled the LXX. is given below.Ellicott concedes the difficulty the LXX felt and still judges the Hebrew genuine; our apparatus keeps both halves of that judgment.
Jesse’s age is mentioned to account for his absence from the army.
seven only are mentioned, 1 Chronicles 2:13 one of them being, as is thought by some, a grandson, perhaps Jonadab the son of Shammah; or was a son by another woman, or died without children, as Jarchi, and therefore not mentionedGill's cited chapter reference is printed as 1 Chronicles 16:1 earlier in his own entry, an obvious slip for 1 Samuel 16; the Chronicles 2:13 reference quoted here is his own and is sound.
13The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yê·lə·ḵū šə·lō·šeṯ hag·gə·ḏō·lîm bə·nê- yi·šay hā·lə·ḵū ’a·ḥă·rê- šā·’ūl lam·mil·ḥā·māh šə·lō·šeṯ bā·nāw ’ă·šer hā·lə·ḵū bam·mil·ḥā·māh wə·šêm hab·bə·ḵō·wr ’ĕ·lî·’āḇ ū·miš·nê·hū ’ă·ḇî·nā·ḏāḇ wə·haš·šə·li·šî šam·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-went the-three sons-of-Jesse, the-great-ones, they-had-gone after Saul to-the-battle; and-the-names of-his-three sons who went in-the-battle: the-firstborn Eliab, and-his-second Abinadab, and-the-third Shammah.
Where the English smooths the original
14And David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḏā·wiḏ hū haq·qā·ṭān ū·šə·lō·šāh hag·gə·ḏō·lîm hā·lə·ḵū ’a·ḥă·rê šā·’ūl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-David — he [was] the-little-one; and-the-three great-ones had-gone after Saul.
Where the English smooths the original
15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḏā·wiḏ hō·lêḵ wā·šāḇ mê·‘al šā·’ūl lir·‘ō·wṯ ’eṯ- ’ā·ḇîw ṣōn bêṯ- lā·ḥem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-David [was] going and-returning from-upon Saul, to-shepherd the-flock-of his-father [at] Beth-lechem.
Where the English smooths the original
This is a very important statement, as it shows that the writer, in spite of what is said in vers. 55-58, knew that David had visited Saul at his court, and become personally known to him.
so that he was not in the permanent service of Saul, but at that very time was with his father.
We must assume either that 1 Samuel 16:21 describes by anticipation what happened eventually after the Philistine war; or that the appointment as armour-bearer was a nominal commission, and that, as he was young and inexperienced, his attendance in camp was not yet required.Cambridge lays out the two harmonisations without choosing; the apparatus below keeps that openness rather than picking one.
16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ar·bā·‘îm yō·wm hap·pə·liš·tî way·yig·gaš haš·kêm wə·ha·‘ă·rêḇ way·yiṯ·yaṣ·ṣêḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-drew-near, the-Philistine, early-rising and-evening-doing; and-he-stationed-himself — forty day[s].
Where the English smooths the original
Wordsworth, following Augustine, sees here a reference to the temptation of the true David, who “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil.This is patristic typology reported by Ellicott, not exegesis of the Hebrew; we carry it as an attested reading, not as the verse's own claim.
The Jews (w) say, he took those seasons on purpose to disturb them in reading their "Shema", or "hear, O Israel", &c. and saying their prayers morning and eveningGill is relaying a Talmudic tradition (Sotah 42b), not the text of Samuel; the timing of the defiance is in the verse, its intent to disturb the Shema is not.
with the additional information that Goliath’s defiance was repeated for a considerable time, and so prepares the way for what follows.
17One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yi·šay way·yō·mer bə·nōw lə·ḏā·wiḏ qaḥ- nā haz·zeh ’ê·p̄aṯ haq·qā·lî haz·zeh wa·‘ă·śā·rāh le·ḥem lə·’a·ḥe·ḵā wə·hā·rêṣ lə·’a·ḥe·ḵā ham·ma·ḥă·neh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Jesse to-David his-son: Take-now for-thy-brothers an-ephah-of the-roasted-grain, this, and-these ten bread[s]; and-make-run [them] to-the-camp, to-thy-brothers.
Where the English smooths the original
18Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’êṯ tā·ḇî hā·’êl·leh ‘ă·śe·reṯ ḥă·ri·ṣê he·ḥā·lāḇ lə·śar- hā·’ā·lep̄ wə·’eṯ- tip̄·qōḏ lə·šā·lō·wm wə·’eṯ- ’a·ḥe·ḵā tiq·qāḥ ‘ă·rub·bā·ṯām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And these ten cuts-of the-milk thou-shalt-bring to-the-commander-of the-thousand; and-thy-brothers thou-shalt-visit for-peace, and-their-pledge thou-shalt-take.
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This seems the simplest explanation of the word ערבּתם, of which very different renderings were given by the early translators.
Bring home some token from them that they are well: the equivalent of a letter.
Tokens of the soldiers' health and safety were sent home in the convenient form of a lock of their hair, or piece of their nail, or such like.JFB's lock-of-hair guess is inference from custom, not from the Hebrew; it is offered here as one attested conjecture among several.
19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hêm·māh wə·šā·’ūl wə·ḵāl ’îš yiś·rā·’êl bə·‘ê·meq hā·’ê·lāh nil·ḥā·mîm ‘im- pə·liš·tîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they and-Saul and-all men-of Israel [are] in-the-valley-of the-Terebinth, fighting with the-Philistines.
Where the English smooths the original
The words of this verse, which read in the English Version as an explanatory parenthesis, are really part of Jesse’s direction to his shepherd son, telling him where he would find his brethren.
Not, strictly speaking, in the valley, but hard by it, on the side of the mountain, where they faced the Philistines,
20So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ way·yaš·kêm bab·bō·qer way·yiṭ·ṭōš ’eṯ- haṣ·ṣōn ‘al- šō·mêr way·yiś·śā way·yê·leḵ ka·’ă·šer yi·šāy ṣiw·wā·hū way·yā·ḇō ham·ma‘·gā·lāh wə·ha·ḥa·yil hay·yō·ṣê ’el- ham·ma·‘ă·rā·ḵāh wə·hê·rê·‘ū bam·mil·ḥā·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-rose-early David in-the-morning, and-he-abandoned the-flock upon a-keeper, and-he-lifted and-he-went as Jesse commanded-him; and-he-came to-the-wagon-track, and-the-force going-out to-the-battle-array, and-they-shouted in-the-battle.
Where the English smooths the original
which were all put together in the camp so as to form a kind of bulwark or fortification
Jesse little thought of sending his son to the camp just at that critical juncture. But the wise God orders the time and all the circumstances of affairs so as to serve the designs of his own glory.
This is the only instance in which the hired shepherd is distinguished from the master or one of his family.
21And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiś·rā·’êl ū·p̄ə·liš·tîm wat·ta·‘ă·rōḵ ma·‘ă·rā·ḵāh liq·raṯ ma·‘ă·rā·ḵāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-arrayed Israel and-Philistines array to-meet array.
Where the English smooths the original
22Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ ’eṯ- way·yiṭ·ṭōš hak·kê·lîm mê·‘ā·lāw ‘al- yaḏ šō·w·mêr hak·kê·lîm way·yā·rāṣ ham·ma·‘ă·rā·ḵāh way·yā·ḇō way·yiš·’al lə·’e·ḥāw lə·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-abandoned David the-vessels from-upon-him upon the-hand-of the-keeper-of the-vessels, and-he-ran [to] the-battle-array; and-he-came and-he-asked his-brothers for-peace.
Where the English smooths the original
which showed the valour and courage of David, who chose rather to expose himself in battle, than to abide with the keeper of the carriages
His carriage; the provisions which he had brought to his brethren.
“Carriage” in the E. V. always signifies “that which is carried,” “baggage.” See Jdg 18:21 ; Isaiah 10:28 ; Acts 21:15 . The Heb. word is the same as that translated “stuff”
23And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hū mə·ḏab·bêr ‘im·mām wə·hin·nêh ’îš hab·bê·na·yim šə·mōw gā·lə·yāṯ hap·pə·liš·tî mig·gaṯ ‘ō·w·leh mim·ma·ʿă·rōṯ pə·liš·tîm way·ḏab·bêr kad·də·ḇā·rîm hā·’êl·leh dā·wiḏ way·yiš·ma‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he [was] speaking with-them, and-behold the-man-of the-two-betweens coming-up, Goliath the-Philistine his-name, from-Gath, from-the-ranks of-the-Philistines; and-he-spoke according-to-these-words, and-David heard.
Where the English smooths the original
It is possible that Goliath was a general designation of these monstrous descendants of the ancient Anakim in Gath; but Ewald suggests that the name Goliath really only belongs to the giant slain by ElhananEllicott is reporting Ewald's conjecture about 2 Samuel 21:19, not asserting it; the corresponding thread is badged “flagged — verify source.”
Whilst he was talking with them, the champion (middle-man) Goliath drew near, and spoke according to those words (the words contained in 1 Samuel 17:8 .), and David heard it.
which he had spoken time after time forty days successively
24When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵōl ’îš yiś·rā·’êl bir·’ō·w·ṯām ’eṯ- hā·’îš way·yā·nu·sū mip·pā·nāw way·yî·rə·’ū mə·’ōḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-all men-of Israel, in-their-seeing the-man, fled from-his-face, and-they-feared exceedingly.
Where the English smooths the original
A dull, cowardly torpor had come over Saul, the punishment for his self-will and disobedience, and the king’s helpless lethargy had settled now on the hearts of the soldiers he had trained so well in his earlier and nobler days.
it is pretty much a whole army should be afraid of one man, and flee from him; they must be greatly forsaken of GodGill's move from the rout to Deuteronomy 32:30 is his own inference about why Israel fled, not a statement of this verse.
25Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’îš yiś·rā·’êl way·yō·mer har·rə·’î·ṯem haz·zeh kî hā·’îš hā·‘ō·leh ‘ō·leh wə·hā·yāh lə·ḥā·rêp̄ ’eṯ- yiś·rā·’êl hā·’îš ’ă·šer- yak·ken·nū ham·me·leḵ ya‘·šə·ren·nū gā·ḏō·wl ‘ō·šer wə·’eṯ- yit·ten- lōw bit·tōw wə·’êṯ ya·‘ă·śeh ’ā·ḇîw bêṯ ḥā·p̄ə·šî bə·yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-man-of Israel: Have-ye-seen this man, the-one-coming-up? For to-defy Israel he-comes-up. And-it-shall-be [that] the-man who strikes-him — the-king will-enrich-him [with] great riches, and-his-daughter he-will-give to-him, and-the-house-of his-father he-will-make free in-Israel.
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It is observable, that Saul in his great distress doth not encourage himself in God, nor seek his counsel or favour by prayers and sacrifices, but expects relief from men only.
In all probability Saul had actually made some such promises as these, but did not feel himself bound to fulfil them afterwards, because he had not made them expressly to David himself.
The exact signification here of the Hebrew word rendered “free” is disputed.
26David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’ă·nā·šîm hā·‘ō·mə·ḏîm ‘im·mōw lê·mōr mah- yê·‘ā·śeh lā·’îš ’ă·šer yak·keh ’eṯ- hal·lāz hap·pə·liš·tî wə·hê·sîr ḥer·pāh mê·‘al yiś·rā·’êl mî haz·zeh kî he·‘ā·rêl hap·pə·liš·tî kî ḥê·rêp̄ ma·‘ar·ḵō·wṯ ḥay·yîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said David to the-men standing with-him, saying: What shall-be-done for-the-man who strikes this Philistine and-turns-aside the-reproach from-upon Israel? For who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine, that he-should-defy the-battle-arrays-of God living?
Where the English smooths the original
This fine expression occurs first in Deuteronomy (marginal reference), and next in Joshua 3:10 , and 2 Kings 19:4 . We find it twice in the Psalms of David Psalm 42:2 ; Psalm 84:2 , four times in the prophets, and frequently in the New Testament. It is generally in contrast to false gods
standing as he does outside the covenant with Jehovah), that he insults the ranks of the living God!
he is but a man, and that of an accursed race, a stranger and enemy to God, and no way able to stand before them who have the living and almighty God for their strength and refuge.
27The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·‘ām way·yō·mer lōw haz·zeh kad·dā·ḇār lê·mōr kōh yê·‘ā·śeh lā·’îš ’ă·šer yak·ken·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-people to-him according-to-this-word: Thus shall-it-be-done for-the-man who strikes-him.
Where the English smooths the original
When David heard these words, he made more minute inquiries from the bystanders about the whole matter, and dropped some words which gave rise to the supposition that he wanted to go and fight with this Philistine himself.
Told him what was proposed to be done in honour to the man that should attempt to kill him, and succeed
28Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gā·ḏō·wl ’ā·ḥîw ’ĕ·lî·’āḇ way·yiš·ma‘ bə·ḏab·bə·rōw ’el- hā·’ă·nā·šîm ’ap̄ ’ĕ·lî·’āḇ way·yi·ḥar- bə·ḏā·wiḏ lām·māh- yā·raḏ·tā zeh way·yō·mer wə·‘al- mî nā·ṭaš·tā hā·hên·nāh mə·‘aṭ haṣ·ṣōn bam·miḏ·bār ’ă·nî yā·ḏa‘·tî ’eṯ- zə·ḏō·nə·ḵā wə·’êṯ rō·a‘ lə·ḇā·ḇe·ḵā kî yā·rā·ḏə·tā lə·ma·‘an rə·’ō·wṯ ham·mil·ḥā·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-heard Eliab, his-brother the-great, in-his-speaking to the-men; and-burned the-nose-of Eliab against-David, and-he-said: Why [is] this thou-hast-come-down, and-upon whom hast-thou-abandoned those few sheep in-the-wilderness? I know thy-presumption and-the-badness-of thy-heart, for to see the-battle thou-hast-come-down.
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Eliab sought for the splinter in his brother's eye, and was not aware of the beam in his own. The very things with which he charged his brother - presumption and wickedness of heart - were most apparent in his scornful reproof.
Eliab was unable to enter into the nature of David’s lofty indignation. Compare the hatred of Joseph’s brethren
or rather, because he envied him the glory of so great an undertaking
It was a trial of David's meekness, patience, and constancy. He had right and reason on his side, and did not render railing for railing; with a soft answer he turned away his brother's wrath. This conquest of his own passion was more honourable than that of Goliath.
29“What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
meh ‘ā·śî·ṯî ‘āt·tāh hă·lō·w way·yō·mer dā·wiḏ hū dā·ḇār
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said David: What have-I-done now? Was-it-not a-word?
Where the English smooths the original
The Hebrew here would be more literally rendered, “Is it not a word,” or “It was only a word,” thus deprecating his elder brother’s anger.
A sufficient cause for his coming, namely, his father’s command. But probably the words mean, “Is it not a [mere] word?” i.e. “May I not ask a harmless question?”
is not Saul's promise, and the insolence of Goliath, a sufficent cause for what I am about to do?Barnes reads the clause the AV's way; Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D read it the other. Both are preserved here because the Hebrew genuinely bears both.
30Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yis·sōḇ mê·’eṣ·lōw ’el- mūl ’a·ḥêr way·yō·mer haz·zeh kad·dā·ḇār hā·‘ām way·ši·ḇu·hū dā·ḇār kad·dā·ḇār hā·ri·šō·wn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-turned-round from-beside-him to the-front-of another, and-he-said according-to-this-word; and-they-returned-him, the-people, a-word like-the-first word.
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For, being secretly moved by God’s Spirit to undertake the combat, he speaks with divers persons about it, that it might come to the king’s ear.That David was “secretly moved by God's Spirit” is Benson's inference from 16:13, not a statement of this verse.
and the design of his talking to one, and to another, was, that what he had said might spread and reach to the ears of Saul, to whom in modesty he did not choose to apply himself.
31Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·šer dā·wiḏ dib·ber way·yəš·šå̄·mə·ʿū had·də·ḇā·rîm way·yag·gi·ḏū lip̄·nê- šā·’ūl way·yiq·qā·ḥê·hū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-were-heard the-words which David spoke, and-they-told [them] before-the-face-of Saul; and-he-took-him.
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David's words were told to Saul, who had him sent for immediately.
David felt that supernatural strength had been communicated to him by the Spirit of God, which came upon him on the day of his anointingEllicott is importing 16:13 to explain David's confidence; this verse itself reports only that his words were repeated to the king.
32And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ way·yō·mer ’el- šā·’ūl ’al- ’ā·ḏām lêḇ- yip·pōl ‘ā·lāw haz·zeh hap·pə·liš·tî ‘aḇ·də·ḵā yê·lêḵ wə·nil·ḥam ‘im-
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said David to Saul: Let-not fall the-heart-of man upon-him; thy-servant will-go and-fight with this Philistine.
Where the English smooths the original
The story is, for all time, the example of the victory of unarmed faith over the world’s utmost might. It is in little the history of the Church and the type of all battles for God.
it would have reflected upon his prince to say, Let not thy heart fail; therefore he speaks in general terms, Let no man’s heart fail.
A shepherd lad, come the same morning from keeping sheep, had more courage than all the mighty men of Israel.
33But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šā·’ūl ’el- dā·wiḏ way·yō·mer lō ṯū·ḵal lā·le·ḵeṯ ’el- haz·zeh hap·pə·liš·tî lə·hil·lā·ḥêm ‘im·mōw kî- ’at·tāh na·‘ar wə·hū ’îš mil·ḥā·māh min·nə·‘u·rāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Saul to David: Not art-thou-able to-go to this Philistine to-fight with-him, for a-lad [art] thou, and-he a-man-of-war from-his-youths.
Where the English smooths the original
Here Satan proves David's faith, by the infidelity of Saul.A sharp Reformation gloss: Geneva reads Saul's discouragement as a temptation. That is theological interpretation laid over the verse, not translation of it.
Compared with the giant David was but a youth, though he had already shown sufficient promise to be called “a man of war” by Saul’s servant
Thou art but a novice, a raw and unexperienced soldier, and therefore unable to fight with him.
34David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ ’el- way·yō·mer šā·’ūl ‘aḇ·də·ḵā rō·‘eh hā·yāh lə·’ā·ḇîw baṣ·ṣōn hā·’ă·rî wə·’eṯ- had·dō·wḇ ū·ḇā wə·nā·śā śeh mê·hā·‘ê·ḏer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said David to Saul: Shepherding was thy-servant for-his-father among-the-flock; and-came the-lion — and-the-bear — and-he-lifted a-lamb from-the-flock.
Where the English smooths the original
In those early days, when the forests of Southern Palestine had not been cleared, it was the habit of the wild animals which usually frequented the heights of Lebanon or the thickets of the Jordan, to make incursions into the pastures of Judaea.Cambridge is quoting Stanley's Lectures; the natural history is nineteenth-century scholarship, not the text's own claim.
The constant use of the singular suffix is sufficient to show, that when David speaks of the lion and the bear, he connects together two different events, which took place at different times
Fierce wild animals, the terror of the Hebrew shepherds, had attacked his flock: these he had met and slain, almost without arms.
35I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·yā·ṣā·ṯî ’a·ḥă·rāw wə·hik·ki·ṯîw wə·hiṣ·ṣal·tî mip·pîw way·yā·qām ‘ā·lay wə·he·ḥĕ·zaq·tî biz·qā·nōw wə·hik·ki·ṯîw wa·hă·mî·tîw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-went-out after-it, and-I-struck-it, and-I-snatched [it] from-its-mouth; and-it-rose against-me — and-I-seized by-its-beard, and-I-struck-it, and-I-killed-it.
Where the English smooths the original
Put here for his throat, or under jaw; neither lion nor bear has a beard properly speaking.
Cp. the Homeric epithet of the lion, “well-bearded;” ( λὶς ἠϋγένειος : Il. XV. 275); and the Latin proverb “to pluck the beard of a dead lion”Cambridge, unlike Barnes, lets the beard stand and appeals to classical usage — the two voices here disagree, and we have not hidden it.
Smote him, to wit, the lion, as appears by his beard; which having particularly mentioned, it was easily understood and believed, that he did the same to the bear
36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
‘aḇ·de·ḵā hik·kāh hā·’ă·rî gam- gam ’eṯ- had·dō·wḇ haz·zeh he·‘ā·rêl hap·pə·liš·tî wə·hā·yāh kə·’a·ḥaḏ mê·hem kî ḥê·rêp̄ ma·‘ar·ḵōṯ ḥay·yîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Both the-lion and the-bear has-thy-servant struck; and-shall-be this uncircumcised Philistine like-one-of-them, for he-has-defied the-battle-arrays-of God living.
Where the English smooths the original
The lion and the bear were only enemies to me and to my sheep, and it was only in defence of them that I attacked these brute beasts; but this Philistine is an enemy to God and his people, and it is for their honour that I attack him.
He, the idolator, must know that he has not to do with mere men, but with God: with a living God will he have to do, and not with a lifeless idol.Ellicott is quoting the Berleburger Bible; K&D quotes the same line at v. 26. The sentence is an eighteenth-century German comment, not a translation of the Hebrew.
The trusting heart of God’s servant could see no ground for fearing one who came forth to defy Jehovah.
37David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dā·wiḏ way·yō·mer Yah·weh ’ă·šer hiṣ·ṣi·la·nî mî·yaḏ hā·’ă·rî ū·mî·yaḏ had·dōḇ hū yaṣ·ṣî·lê·nî mî·yaḏ haz·zɛ·hs hap·pə·liš·tî lêḵ way·yō·mer šā·’ūl ’el- dā·wiḏ Yah·weh yih·yeh ‘im·māḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said David: YHWH, who snatched-me from-the-hand-of the-lion and-from-the-hand-of the-bear — He will-snatch-me from-the-hand-of this Philistine. And-said Saul to David: Go, and-YHWH be with-thee.
Where the English smooths the original
But David's piety sank all consideration of his own prowess and ascribed the success of those achievements to the divine aid
Jehovah shall be with thee : an assurance, not a prayer.
This permission and blessing of King Saul recalls the Saul of old days, before the covenant between him and the Mighty One of Israel was broken
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens by stepping backwards. הַזֶּ֗ה — “that Ephrathite” — assumes chapter 16 (Cambridge: the word “signifies ‘who has been mentioned before’”), and the effect on the ancient translators was severe: Ellicott, Barnes, Gill and K&D all record that the Vatican LXX simply omits vv. 12–31 and 55–58. Barnes states the motive plainly — “to avoid the apparent inconsistency with regard to Saul's acquaintance with David.” Ellicott judges the Hebrew “undoubtedly genuine” and prefers the Syriac's solution, reading vv. 12–14 as a parenthesis; K&D catalogues the whole nineteenth-century fight over the passage and refuses the interpolation hypothesis. The machine's contribution is only this: the seam is real, the Hebrew is what we have, and the grammar itself flags the flashback — the doubled הָלְכ֥וּ of v. 13 which K&D calls “a very ponderous construction indeed, but quite correct” for a language with no pluperfect. Inside that parenthesis the narrator does something unhurried and deliberate: he divides Jesse's house into the great ones (H1419) and the little one (H6996), and sends the little one back to the flock.
Verse 16 is one sentence of pure repetition: two Hifil infinitives absolute, הַשְׁכֵּ֣ם וְהַעֲרֵ֑ב, and a Hitpael, וַיִּתְיַצֵּ֖ב — early-rising, evening-doing, and planting himself. Cambridge notes that this verse resumes vv. 4–11 and adds the one new fact that makes the story possible: the defiance was repeated “for a considerable time.” Pulpit explains from the terrain how a stand-off could last that long. Ellicott reports the patristic reading (Wordsworth after Augustine) that forty days points to the temptation of “the true David”; Maclaren, more cautiously, calls it “probably a round number”; Gill relays the Talmudic tradition that the hours were chosen to spoil Israel's morning and evening prayers. ⚙ Those three are not of equal weight and we do not treat them as such: the count is in the text, the liturgical motive is rabbinic inference, the typology is patristic application. Against that stationary blasphemy the narrative sets a father's food-basket — an ephah of parched grain, ten loaves, ten slices of curd — and a commission whose verbs are take, make-run, visit for peace, take their pledge. JFB supplies the realism: “the soldiers were volunteers or militia, who were supplied with provisions from time to time by their friends at home.” Geneva supplies the theology in one line: “Though Jesse meant one thing, yet God's providence directed David to another end.”
David rises early (וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֨ם, the same root the giant has been using for forty mornings), leaves the flock with a keeper, and arrives exactly as the war-cry goes up — K&D: “to make a noise in war, i.e., to raise a war-cry.” Benson: “Jesse little thought of sending his son to the camp just at that critical juncture. But the wise God orders the time and all the circumstances of affairs.” He leaves his baggage with the keeper of baggage (Barnes and Cambridge both correct the archaic “carriage”) and does what nobody in the valley has done for forty days: he runs toward the line. Then he asks a question, twice, and the second half of it is the theological centre of the unit — מַעַרְכ֖וֹת אֱלֹהִ֥ים חַיִּֽים, “the battle-arrays of the living God.” Barnes traces that title: first in Deuteronomy, then Joshua 3:10 and 2 Kings 19:4, twice in David's own Psalms, “generally in contrast to false gods.” Pulpit finds two grounds of confidence in David's single sentence: the Philistine's uncovenanted state, and the fact that “Jehovah [is] a Being who proved his existence by his acts.” Poole, reading the same scene from the other side, makes the sharpest observation in this section: “Saul in his great distress doth not encourage himself in God … but expects relief from men only.” The king's answer to blasphemy is a prize list; a shepherd's answer is a question about whose army it is.
The Hebrew of v. 28 is bodily: וַיִּֽחַר־אַף֩, “the nose of Eliab burned.” His three charges are presumption (H2087 zâdôwn), badness of heart (H7455 with H3824), and morbid curiosity — and his taunt uses the very verb the narrator used of David's care in v. 20: “with whom hast thou abandoned (נָטַ֜שְׁתָּ) those few sheep,” when v. 20 has already told us he left them with a keeper. K&D sees through it: “Eliab sought for the splinter in his brother's eye, and was not aware of the beam in his own. The very things with which he charged his brother — presumption and wickedness of heart — were most apparent in his scornful reproof.” Cambridge adds the canonical parallel: “Compare the hatred of Joseph's brethren (Genesis 37:4).” Poole names the motive as envy of “the glory of so great an undertaking.” David's reply is two Hebrew words of self-defence, הֲל֖וֹא דָּבָ֥ר הֽוּא — which Ellicott, Cambridge, K&D and the Targum (via Gill) all render “was it not [only] a word?”, against the AV's famous “Is there not a cause?” Then v. 31 turns the passive on: the words were heard (Nifal), and were told before Saul, and Saul took him. Henry's verdict on the exchange stands as the finest sentence any of these commentators writes on it: “This conquest of his own passion was more honourable than that of Goliath.”
David's case to Saul is not bravado but evidence, and its grammar is an argument from hand to hand. Saul objects with two nouns: na‘ar (a boy) against ‘îš milḥāmāh (a man of war) “from his youth.” Poole: “Thou art but a novice, a raw and unexperienced soldier.” Geneva reads the objection as a test: “Here Satan proves David's faith, by the infidelity of Saul.” David answers with the lion and the bear — K&D insisting from the singular suffixes that these were two separate events at different times, JFB agreeing because “those animals prowl alone,” Cambridge quoting Stanley on lions ascending from the Jordan and bears descending from Lebanon into the pastures of Judaea. Benson catches what the story is for: “The lion and the bear were only enemies to me and to my sheep … but this Philistine is an enemy to God and his people.” Then, in v. 37, the tetragrammaton appears for the first and only time in twenty-six verses, and the noun יָד (hand) is repeated three times — the hand of the lion, the hand of the bear, the hand of this Philistine — with an emphatic ה֣וּא in the middle: He will deliver me. JFB: “David's piety sank all consideration of his own prowess and ascribed the success of those achievements to the divine aid.” Cambridge presses Saul's closing words further than a blessing: “Jehovah shall be with thee: an assurance, not a prayer.” Maclaren's whole exposition hangs on this movement: “The story is, for all time, the example of the victory of unarmed faith over the world's utmost might.”
⚙ Read the unit by its vocabulary and one thing stands out that no English translation can show: for twenty-five verses nobody says the covenant name. Yehovah does not occur once between v. 12 and v. 36; it enters, twice, only in v. 37. Israel's line is called מַעֲרָכָה — an arrangement, a drawn-up order — four times in vv. 20–22 (five, if the disputed form in v. 23 is read with the Qere) before anyone says whose arrangement it is. The men of Israel can describe the giant (v. 25), price his head, and flee from his face; they have a battle order without an owner. Then a boy carrying cheese asks the only question in the chapter that has a subject and a predicate worth having: “that he should defy the battle-arrays of the living God?” (v. 26). That is the pivot, and it is a question about grammar as much as about courage — to whom does this army belong? Eliab hears the question as ambition, which is what fear always hears in faith; Saul hears it as arithmetic, a boy against a professional. David's own answer, when he finally gives it in v. 37, is not a boast but an induction from history: the same hand that was over the lion and the bear is over this Philistine, and the LORD who snatched me out of the first will snatch me out of the third. The verb is נָצַל, to snatch away — the shepherd's own word for what he did to the lamb at the lion's mouth in v. 35. He argues from what he has done for sheep to what God will do for him, and the argument holds because in both cases the rescuer is the same. ⚙ This reading is offered to be tested, not believed: the honest gap is that the text never tells us David's inner state, only his sentences. (The line that follows is this tool's own sentence, not a verse of Scripture.)
The battle line had been drawn up for forty days before anyone said whose it was.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Jesse's last instruction is עֲרֻבָּתָ֖ם (ʻărubbâh, H6161), “their pledge.” The Verifier finds the noun in only one other verse in the entire Hebrew Bible: Proverbs 17:18, in the wisdom material on standing surety. ⚙ We do not press a doctrinal link between a father's welfare-token and a proverb about giving security; the tie is lexical and it is exact. What it does establish is the flavour of the request: not news, but collateral — something handed over as a guarantee. K&D concedes that “very different renderings were given by the early translators,” and Cambridge's modest paraphrase (“the equivalent of a letter”) is probably as far as honesty goes.
Proverbs 17:18
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6161 ʻărubbâh (in 2 vv) — the rarest lexeme in this unit and effectively a hapax pair; a genuine verbal link, not a quotation
The “cheeses” of v. 18 are חֲרִצֵ֤י הֶֽחָלָב֙, “incisions of milk” (H2757 chârîyts). The Verifier finds the same rare noun in only two other verses, 2 Samuel 12:31 and 1 Chronicles 20:3 — where it does not mean food at all but iron cutting-implements in David's later war at Rabbah. ⚙ The lexeme is shared and the senses are not: this is a link of vocabulary, and to read moral significance into it would be to invent one. It is worth recording for two reasons. First, it shows how thin the semantic evidence for chârîyts is — three verses total, which is why K&D falls back on “so the ancient versions render it.” Second, the Chronicles context belongs to the later cycle of Philistine giant-wars, the same cycle in which Ellicott locates the Elhanan difficulty (thread below).
2 Samuel 12:31 · 1 Chronicles 20:3
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H2757 chârîyts (in 3 vv) — rare, hence verbal; the shared item is the lexeme only, the referents differ (slices of curd vs. iron implements)
Two verbs bind v. 22 to the darkest earlier chapter of this book. David runs (H7323 rûwts) to the battle-array (H4634 maʻărâkâh) — and in 1 Samuel 4:12 a man of Benjamin runs from the maʻărâkâh, carrying to Shiloh the news that the ark of God is taken, and in 4:16 he reports what happened in the ranks. The Verifier records both lexemes as shared, and maʻărâkâh is genuinely uncommon — sixteen verses in the whole canon, five of them inside this unit and a sixth at 17:45. ⚙ The motion is exactly reversed: one runner carries defeat away from the ranks, the other carries bread into them and comes away asking whose ranks they are. The same noun then reappears on David's lips in v. 26 and v. 36 with the owner finally named — “the battle-arrays of the living God” — and again in 17:45.
1 Samuel 4:12 · 1 Samuel 4:16 · 1 Samuel 17:45
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4634 maʻărâkâh (in 16 vv — rare) and H7323 rûwts (in 92 vv) with 1 Samuel 4:12; H4634 also shared with 1 Samuel 4:16 and 1 Samuel 17:45. Verbal link within one book; the reversal of direction is this tool's observation, not part of the computed basis
וְהַעֲרֵ֑ב (ʻârab, H6150, “to grow dusky at sundown”) is rare — the Verifier finds it in three verses, sharing v. 16 with Judges 19:9 and Isaiah 24:11; Judges 19:9 also shares shâkam (H7925), the morning half of the same pair. ⚙ Rarity alone would license a “verbal” badge, and we are deliberately not taking it: what these verses share is a way of saying late in the day, not a claim, a motif, or a quotation. Judges 19:9 is a host pressing a guest to stay the night; Isaiah 24:11 is a city's ruined mirth. We record the lexical fact and downgrade the tier accordingly. The one thing the shared vocabulary does establish is that v. 16 marks time the way ordinary Hebrew narrative marks it — which is precisely what makes forty days of it unbearable.
Judges 19:9 · Isaiah 24:11
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6150 ʻârab (in 3 vv), plus H7925 shâkam (in 64 vv) and H4994 nâʼ with Judges 19:9. Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared item is a time-of-day expression with no shared claim
David's credential is that he went out after the lion and snatched the lamb מִפִּ֑יו, “from its mouth” (v. 35, H5337 nâtsal), and that the LORD snatched him from the lion's hand (v. 37). The New Testament twice reaches for that image: Hebrews 11:33–34 names David among those who “stopped the mouths of lions,” and 2 Timothy 4:17 speaks of being delivered out of the lion's mouth. ⚙ This is a Greek-to-Hebrew link and therefore cannot be verbal: no Strong's number is shared and the Verifier offers no computed basis for it. It is figural, and the figure is old and widely held — it is Hebrews, not this tool, that puts David in the list. The reading we add is only this: in v. 35 David is the one who snatches, and in v. 37 he is the one snatched, and the second sentence is the ground of his courage in the first.
Hebrews 11:33 · 2 Timothy 4:17
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek ↔ Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so no verbal tier. The basis is the shared figure of rescue from a lion's mouth, with Hebrews 11:32–33 explicitly naming David — an ancient and widely-held association, not a quotation of this verse
Ellicott raises it at v. 23 and we flag it rather than settle it: 2 Samuel 21:19 reports that Elhanan, a Bethlehemite, slew “Goliath of Gath, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam,” after David was king. Ellicott offers two ways out — that Goliath was a general designation for these descendants of the Anakim at Gath, or, with Ewald, that “the name Goliath really only belongs to the giant slain by Elhanan” and was transferred in error to the champion David killed, “who is, moreover, generally called simply ‘the Philistine.’” ⚙ The Verifier gives no lexical basis for this pairing, the harmonisations are ancient but contested, and the Chronicles parallel (1 Chronicles 20:5) is itself part of the dispute. Verify at the source before leaning on any solution; the honest report is that the difficulty is real and unresolved here.
2 Samuel 21:19 · 1 Chronicles 20:5
basis: No Verifier lexeme basis; the link rests on the shared proper name Goliath and on Ellicott's report of Ewald's conjecture. Provenance and harmonisation are both disputed — flagged rather than asserted
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Ellicott, following Wordsworth, records the patristic reading of v. 18 verbatim: “David is sent by his father to his brethren from Bethlehem. So the Divine David, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, was sent to His brethren by his Heavenly Father” — and completes it with the ill reception: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11). Cambridge independently points the same direction from the Hebrew side, comparing the errand of v. 18 to Genesis 37:14 and Eliab's anger to “the hatred of Joseph's brethren.” ⚙ The pattern is in the text before it is in the typology: a father's commission, a journey down from Bethlehem, a welfare visit, and an elder brother whose nose burns. This is the oldest Christological reading of the unit and it is carried here as attested, with the caution that Ellicott himself calls it “this curious line of Patristic interpretation.”
John 1:11 · Genesis 37:14 · 1 Samuel 17:18 · 1 Samuel 17:28
Matthew Henry draws it from vv. 34–35 without strain: “When David kept sheep, he proved himself very careful and tender of his flock. This reminds us of Christ, the good Shepherd, who not only ventured, but laid down his life for the sheep.” The Hebrew supports the weight he puts on it. David's verb for what he did to the lamb is וְהִצַּ֣לְתִּי (nâtsal, H5337, “to snatch away”), and it is the same verb, twice more, for what the LORD did and will do to David in v. 37 — so that the shepherd who snatches is himself a snatched man. ⚙ Reading forward: the Good Shepherd of John 10:11 does not merely risk the wolf's mouth but goes into it, and comes out — which is the one place the type is exceeded rather than repeated. Ancient and widely held; Henry states it, and the apostolic shepherd language is not an inference of ours.
John 10:11 · 1 Peter 2:25 · 1 Samuel 17:34-37
The terms of the war are stated in the chapter's prize list and its arithmetic: a single combatant carries a nation, and the reward falls on his father's house — riches, a daughter, and a house made חָפְשִׁ֖י, free in Israel (v. 25; Barnes notes that in all fifteen other occurrences the word means free as opposed to enslaved). Ellicott observes the combat “was no mere duel between two fighting men … but that the fortunes of the nation for an indefinite period were to be staked on this momentous single combat.” Maclaren generalises it: “It is in little the history of the Church and the type of all battles for God.” ⚙ Our own extension — that the shape here is representative, one champion's victory reckoned to a people who did nothing but watch, and one house set free by it — is a machine reading and we mark it as such. It is not asserted by any voice in this brief, and Romans 5 is cited as a resonance to be tested, not as a link the text claims.
Romans 5:18-19 · 1 Samuel 17:25 · 1 Samuel 17:9
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Text. This unit sits inside the largest textual dispute in 1 Samuel. Ellicott, Barnes, Gill and K&D all record that vv. 12–31 (with 55–58) are absent from the Vatican copy of the Septuagint; K&D lists the critics on both sides (Houbigant, Kennicott, Michaelis and others for interpolation; De Wette, Thenius, Ewald and others against) and argues that the repetitions are “characteristic peculiarities of the early Hebrew style.” We have followed the Masoretic text as the Berean interlinear presents it and have not adjudicated the question.
Cruxes we did not resolve. (1) בָּ֥א בַאֲנָשִֽׁים in v. 12: Vulgate, Keil, Kimchi, Jarchi and the Syriac all pull different ways, and Pulpit suspects a dropped aleph; our literal keeps the strangeness rather than smoothing it. (2) מִמַּעֲרוֹת in v. 23: K&D calls the written form “probably an error” for mi-maʻărākôt (so the Qere, LXX and Vulgate); Pulpit agrees. (3) עֲרֻבָּתָ֖ם in v. 18: the ancient versions diverge widely and the noun occurs twice in the canon. (4) The “beard” of v. 35: Barnes and Pulpit say neither lion nor bear has one and read “throat” or “chin”; K&D defends the beard with Homer and Martial. All four are recorded as open.
Sources. Every commentary excerpt is a verbatim, contiguous quotation from the public-domain entry named, selected by anchor and copied by machine; no quotation here has been paraphrased or modernised. Two entries in the brief (K&D on v. 12 and Maclaren on v. 32) are capped, and we quoted only from the visible portion rather than from the unread remainder. Thread bases marked “Verifier” are computed shared-Strong's counts, not our judgments; where we have added an interpretation on top of a computed basis (the reversal of direction in the rûwts thread, for instance) the badge says so.
What is ours and fallible. The literal renderings, the divergence notes, the movements, the sola reading and the third Christ entry are ⚙ synthesis. The most speculative claim we make is the observation that the divine name is withheld until v. 37 and that maʻărâkâh goes five verses without an owner — that is a real feature of the Hebrew as printed in the interlinear above, but the significance we draw from it is ours, and a reader is free to judge it overdrawn.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)