17:8 Goliath12 stood and called to Israel’s troops,13 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose14 for yourselves a man so he may come down15 to me!
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.
15
tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.