1 Samuel 17:49

The NET Bible®

David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.

Hebrew Names Version
David put his hand in his bag, and took there a stone, and slang it, and struck the Pelishti in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the eretz.

King James Version
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

Lexham English Bible
Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung it. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

English Standard Version
And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

New Century Version
He took a stone from his bag, put it into his sling, and slung it. The stone hit the Philistine and went deep into his forehead, and Goliath fell facedown on the ground.

Amplified Bible
David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and slung it, and it struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

New American Standard Bible
And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Dauid put his hande in his bagge, and tooke out a stone, and slang it, & smote the Philistim in his forehead, that the stone sticked in his forehead, and he fell groueling to the earth.

Legacy Standard Bible
And David sent his hand down into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

Contemporary English Version
He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground.

Complete Jewish Bible
David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, and hurled it with his sling. It struck the P'lishti in his forehead and buried itself in his forehead, so that he fell face down on the ground.

Darby Translation
And David put his hand into the bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead; and he fell on his face to the earth.

Easy-to-Read Version
David took out a stone from his bag. He put it in his sling and swung the sling. The stone flew from the sling and hit Goliath right between the eyes. The stone sank deep into his head, and Goliath fell to the ground—face down.

George Lamsa Translation
And David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone, and slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

Good News Translation
He reached into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downward on the ground.

Literal Translation
And David put his hand into the pouch and took a stone from there. And he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Dauid put his hade in his bagg, and toke out a stone, & thrue it with the slynge, and hytt the Philistyne euen in the fore heade, so that the stone stacke in his fore heade, and he fell downe to the grounde vpon his face.

American Standard Version
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.

Bible in Basic English
And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and sent it from his leather band straight at the Philistine, and the stone went deep into his brow, and he went down to the earth, falling on his face.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Dauid put his hand in his bagge, and toke out a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone suncke into his forehead, and he fell groueling to the earth.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slung it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.

King James Version (1611)
And Dauid put his hande in his bag, and tooke thence a stone, and slang it, & smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunke into his forehead, and he fell vpon his face to the earth.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And David stretched out his hand to his scrip, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone penetrated through the helmet into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the ground.

English Revised Version
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.

Berean Standard Bible
Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Dauid putte his hond `in to his scrippe, and he took o stoon, and he castide with the slynge, `and ledde aboute, and smoot `the Filistei in the forheed; and the stoon was fastned in his forheed, and he felde doun in to his face on the erthe.

Young's Literal Translation
and David putteth forth his hand unto the vessel, and taketh thence a stone, and slingeth, and smiteth the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sinketh into his forehead, and he falleth on his face to the earth.

Update Bible Version
And David put his hand in his bag, and took a stone from there, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and hurled it with his sling, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

World English Bible
David put his hand in his bag, and took there a stone, and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

New King James Version
Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

New Living Translation
Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

New Life Bible
David put his hand into his bag, took out a stone and threw it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone went into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

New Revised Standard
David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And David thrust his hand into his pouch, and took from thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine, in his forehead, - that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face, to the earth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about, struck the Philistine in the forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth.

Revised Standard Version
And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

Contextual Overview

⁴⁸ The Philistine drew steadily closer to David to attack him, while David quickly ran toward the battle line to attack the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground. ⁵⁰ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ⁵¹ David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath's sword, drew it from its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry. They chased the Philistines to the valley and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from their hot pursuit of the Philistines, they looted their camp. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath's weapons in his tent. ⁵⁵ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, "Whose son is this young man, Abner?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know." ⁵⁶ The king said, "Find out whose son this boy is!" ⁵⁷ So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

smote: 1 Kings 22:34, 2 Kings 9:24, 1 Corinthians 1:27, 1 Corinthians 1:28

Reciprocal: Judges 4:21 - took Judges 5:26 - she smote off Judges 15:15 - slew Judges 20:16 - sling stones 1 Samuel 2:9 - by strength 1 Samuel 7:13 - against 1 Samuel 19:5 - slew 2 Samuel 22:40 - girded 1 Chronicles 12:2 - in hurling 2 Chronicles 26:14 - slings to cast stones Psalms 18:29 - by thee Psalms 18:38 - General Psalms 119:96 - I have seen

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And David put his hand in his bag,.... The shepherd's scrip, in which he had put the five stones he took out of the brook:

and took thence a stone; and put it into his sling he had in his hand:

and slang [it], and smote the Philistine in his forehead; it is made a difficulty of how he should smite him on his forehead, when he had a helmet of brass upon his head, 1 Samuel 17:5; in answer to this Kimchi observes, that some say, that when David said he would give his flesh to the fowls of the air, at the mention of that he looked upwards, and what was upon his forehead fell backwards, and then David slung and smote him; or he might put back his helmet to talk with David, and hear and be heard the better; and having nothing to fear from an unarmed man, might neglect to put it forward again; or there might be some open space left in the helmet for him to look through, in at which the stone might pass; so the Targum renders it, he smote him in the house of his eyes, so the stone passed through the eye hole into his brain: but after all, supposing his forehead ever so well covered, as the stone slung by David was under a divine direction, so as to hit a person in motion, it came with a divine power, which nothing could resist; and supposing this, of which there need no doubt, it could as easily pass through the helmet of brass, as pierce into his forehead and sink there; nor can this be thought the least incredible, if what Diodorus Siculus m relates of the Baleares be true, that they were so dexterous at slinging, that they not only would sling stones bigger than others could, and were so directed, that they seldom missed their mark, being inured to it from their youth, but would even in battle break in pieces shields, helmets, and all kinds of armour, with which bodies were covered:

that the stone sunk into his forehead; and so into his brain, as a stone is immersed and sinks in water, when thrown into it; with such force did it go, and with so much ease did it make its way, through the direction and power of God:

and he fell upon his face to the earth; Jarchi observes, that it was most natural for him to have fallen backwards, being struck upon his forehead; but so it was, that David might have no trouble to cut off his head, for by this means he fell nearer to him.

m Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 298.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 17:49. Smote the Philistine in his forehead — Except his face, Goliath was everywhere covered over with strong armour. Either he had no beaver to his helmet, or it was lifted up so as to expose his forehead; but it does not appear that the ancient helmets had any covering for the face. The Septuagint however supposes that the stone passed through the helmet, and sank into his forehead: Και διεδυ ὁ λιθος δια της περικεφαλαιας εις το μετωπον αυτου, "and the stone passed through his helmet, and sank into his skull." To some this has appeared perfectly improbable; but we are assured by ancient writers that scarcely any thing could resist the force of the sling.

Diodorus Siculus, lib. v., c. 18, p. 287, edit. Bipont, says "The Baleares, in time of war, sling greater stones than any other people, and with such force, that they seem as if projected from a catapult. Διο και κατα τας τειχομαχιας εν ταις προσβολαις τυπτοντες τους προ των επαλξεων εφεστωτας κατατραυματιζουσιν· εν δε ταις παραταξεσι τους τε θυρεους, και τα κρανη, και παν σκεπαστηριον ὁπλον συντριβουσι. Κατα δε την ευστοχιαν οὑτως ακριβεις εισιν, ὡστε κατα το πλειστον μη ἁμαρτανειν του προκειμενου σκοπου. Therefore, in assaults made on fortified towns, they grievously wound the besieged; and in battle they break in pieces the shields, helmets, and every species of armour by which the body is defended. And they are such exact marksmen that they scarcely ever miss that at which they aim."

The historian accounts for their great accuracy and power in the use of the sling, from this circumstance: Αιτιαι δε τουτων, κ.τ.λ. "They attain to this perfection by frequent exercise from their childhood; for while they are young and under their mother's care, they are obliged to learn to sling; for they fasten bread for a mark at the top of the pole; and till the child hit the bread he must remain fasting; and when he has hit it, the mother gives it to him to eat."-Ibid.

I have given these passages at large, because they contain several curious facts, and sufficiently account for the force and accuracy with which David slung his stone at Goliath. We find also in the μη αμαρτανειν, not miss the mark, of the historian, the true notion of αμαρτανειν, to sin, which I have contended for elsewhere. He who sins, though he aims thereby at his gratification and profit, misses the mark of present and eternal felicity.