17The Philistines gathered their camps^a for battle and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. ²Then Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and they formed ranks for the battle to meet the Philistines. ³The Philistines were standing on the hill on one side and the army of Israel was standing on the hill on the other side with the valley between them. ⁴Then a champion^b went out from the camps of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.^c ⁵A bronze helmet was on his head, and he was clothed with scale body armor; the weight of the body armor was five thousand bronze shekels. ⁶Bronze greaves^d were on his legs,^e and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and the point of his spear weighed six hundred iron shekels. His shield bearer^f was walking in front of him.

⁸He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, “Why have you come out to form ranks for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Commission for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me and he defeats me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail over him and defeat him, then you will be our servants and you will serve us.” ¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “I hereby defy the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so that we may fight each other!”

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Footnotes

aOr “armies”
bLiterally “a man of the space between”
cA cubit was about eighteen inches and a span about nine inches, so the Masoretic Hebrew text gives the height of nine feet, nine inches. Ancient Greek versions variously give Goliath’s height as four, five, or sixteen cubits.
dOr “shin guards”
eHebrew “feet”
fLiterally “The one who carried his shield”