1 Samuel 17:24

24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

1 Samuel 17:24 in Other Translations

24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

24 As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.

24 The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant - totally frightened.

24 When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.

1 Samuel 17:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:24

And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man
Even as it should seem before they heard him; knowing who he was, and what he was about to say, having seen and heard him forty days running:

fled from him, and were sore afraid;
it is pretty much a whole army should be afraid of one man, and flee from him; they must be greatly forsaken of God, and given up by him, see ( Deuteronomy 32:30 ) ; but perhaps they were not so much afraid of personal danger from him, as that they could not bear to hear his blasphemy.

1 Samuel 17:24 In-Context

22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.

23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.

24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”