1 Samuel 17:10

10 And the Philistine said, I have said shame today to the companies of Israel; give ye [to me] a man, and begin he singular battle with me. (And the Philistine said, I have shamed Israel's companies this day; now give ye to me a man, and let him fight with me man-to-man.)

1 Samuel 17:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:10

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day,
&c.] Or "reproach" ^F19 them; that is, should they not accept his challenge, and send down a man to fight with them, he should then upbraid them with cowardice; and now he disdained them, as if there was not a man among them that dared to encounter with him:

give me a man that we may fight together;
and so decide the controversy between us; such as were those duels fought between Paris and Menelaus in the Trojan war, and between the Lacedemonians and the Argives in the times of Orthryades, and between the Athenians and Romans by the Horatii and Curiatii, as Grotius observes.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (ytprx) "exprobravo". V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "probro affeci", Tigurine version; "probro affecero", Junius & Tremellius.

1 Samuel 17:10 In-Context

8 And he stood, and cried (out) against the companies of (the) armed men of Israel, and said to them, Why came ye ready to (do) battle? Whether I am not a Philistine, and ye be the servants of Saul? Choose ye a man of you, and come he down to a singular battle, (that is, man-to-man);

9 if he may fight with me, and slay me, we shall be your servants; forsooth if I have the mastery, and slay him, ye shall be bond (ye shall be our bondsmen, or our slaves), and serve us.

10 And the Philistine said, I have said shame today to the companies of Israel; give ye [to me] a man, and begin he singular battle with me. (And the Philistine said, I have shamed Israel's companies this day; now give ye to me a man, and let him fight with me man-to-man.)

11 Soothly Saul and all men of Israel heard such words of the Philistine, and they were astonished, and dreaded greatly (and were greatly afraid).

12 Forsooth David was the son of a man of Ephrath, of whom it is said before, of Bethlehem of Judah, to whom the name was Jesse, and he had eight sons; and in the days of Saul, Jesse was an old man, and of great age among men. (And David was the son of a man of Ephrath, of whom it was spoken of before, of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons; and Jesse was an old man in the days of Saul, and of great age among men.)