1 Samuel 17:5-8

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. ¹  17:6 He had bronze shin guards ²  on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. 17:7 The shaft ³  of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels. ⁴  His shield bearer was walking before him.

17:8 Goliath ⁵  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁶  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁷  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁸  to me!

[17:5]  ¹ 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.

[17:6]  ² 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.

[17:7]  ³ tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “wood,” rather than the “arrow” (the reading of the Kethib).

[17:7]  ⁴ sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.

[17:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  ⁷ 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.

[17:8]  ⁸ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.