1 Samuel 17:4

Douay-Rheims Bible

And there went out a man baseborn from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall

Hebrew Names Version
There went out a champion out of the camp of the Pelishtim, named Golyat, of Gat, whose height was six cubits and a span.

King James Version
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Lexham English Bible
Then a champion went out from the camps of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.

English Standard Version
And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

New Century Version
The Philistines had a champion fighter from Gath named Goliath. He was about nine feet, four inches tall. He came out of the Philistine camp

New English Translation
Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall.

Amplified Bible
Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

New American Standard Bible
Then a champion came forward from the army encampment of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then came a man betweene them both out of the tents of the Philistims, named Goliath of Gath: his height was sixe cubites and an hande breadth,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then a champion came out from the camps of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Contemporary English Version
The Philistine army had a hero named Goliath who was from the town of Gath and was over nine feet tall.

Complete Jewish Bible
There came out a champion from the camp of the P'lishtim named Golyat, from Gat, who was nine feet nine inches tall.

Darby Translation
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Philistines had a champion fighter named Goliath, who was from Gath. He was over 9 feet tall. Goliath came out of the Philistine camp.

George Lamsa Translation
And there went out a mighty man from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Good News Translation
A man named Goliath, from the city of Gath, came out from the Philistine camp to challenge the Israelites. He was over nine feet tall

Literal Translation
And a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines, Goliath was his name, from Gath; his height was six cubits and a span.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then stepte there forth from amoge the Philistynes a stoute bolde man, named Goliath of Gath, sixe cubites and an hande breth hye,

American Standard Version
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Bible in Basic English
And a fighter came out from the tents of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath; he was more than six cubits tall.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And there came a man betweene the both, out of the tentes of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath: sixe cubites and a handbreadth long:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

King James Version (1611)
And there went out a champion out of the campe of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath: whose height was sixe cubites and a span.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And there went forth a mighty man out of the army of the Philistines, Goliath, by name, out of Geth, his height was four cubits and a span.

English Revised Version
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Berean Standard Bible
Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And a man, `sone of a widewe, whos fadir was vncerteyn, yede out of the `castels of Filisteis, Goliath bi name of Geth, of sixe cubitis heiy and a spanne; and a brasun basynet on his heed;

Young's Literal Translation
And there goeth out a man of the duellists from the camps of the Philistines, Goliath [is] his name, from Gath; his height [is] six cubits and a span,

Update Bible Version
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Webster's Bible Translation
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose hight [was] six cubits and a span.

World English Bible
There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

New King James Version
And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

New Living Translation
Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall!

New Life Bible
Then a strong fighter came out from the armies of the Philistines. His name was Goliath, from Gath. He was almost twice as tall as most men.

New Revised Standard
And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And there came forth a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, Goliath, his name, from Gath, - his height, six cubits and a span;

Revised Standard Version
And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

THE MESSAGE
A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

Contextual Overview

¹ Now the Philistines gathering together their troops to battle, assembled at Socho of Juda: and camped between Socho and Azeca, in the borders of Dommim. ² And Saul and the children of Israel being gathered together, came to the valley of Terebinth, and they set the army in array to fight against the Philistines. ³ And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. ⁴ And there went out a man baseborn from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span: ⁵ And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass: ⁶ And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. ⁷ And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron: and his armourbearer went before him. ⁸ And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel, and said to them: Why are you come out prepared to fight? am not I a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand. ⁹ If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us. ¹⁰ And the Philistine said: I have defied the bands of Israel this day: give me a man, and let him fight with me hand to hand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Goliath: 1 Samuel 17:23, 1 Samuel 21:9, 1 Samuel 21:10, 2 Samuel 21:19, 1 Chronicles 20:5

of Gath: 1 Samuel 27:4, Joshua 11:22, 2 Samuel 21:16-22, 1 Chronicles 20:4-8

whose height: Deuteronomy 3:11, 1 Chronicles 11:23, Amos 2:9

six cubits: According to Bp. Cumberland's calculation, the height of Goliath was about eleven feet ten inches; but Parkhurst estimating the ordinary cubit at seventeen inches and a half, calculates that he was nine feet six inches high. Few instances can be produced of men who can be compared with him. Pliny says, "The tallest man that hath been seen in our days was one name Gabara, who, in the days of Claudius, the late Emperor, was brought out of Arabia: he was nine feet nine inches." Josephus mentions a Jew, named Eleazar, whom Vitellius sent to Rome, who was seven cubits, or ten feet two inches high. Becanus saw a man near ten feet, and a woman that was full ten feet. And, to mention no more, a man of the name of John Middleton, born at Hale, near Warrington, in Lancashire, in the reign of James the First, was more than nine feet high. Dr. Plott, in his history of Staffordshire, says, that "his hand, from the carpus to the end of the middle finger, was seventeen inches, his palms eight inches and a half broad, and his whole height was nine feet three inches; wanting but six inches of the height of Goliath of Gath.

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:4 - giants Numbers 13:33 - saw the giants 1 Samuel 5:8 - Gath 1 Samuel 9:2 - from his shoulders 1 Samuel 10:23 - he was higher Job 39:21 - and Psalms 33:16 - mighty Jeremiah 9:23 - neither Amos 6:2 - Gath

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

Genesis 13:16
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also.

Genesis 16:10
And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

Genesis 17:1
And after he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect.

Genesis 17:11
And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Genesis 17:18
And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee.

Genesis 22:17
I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.

Genesis 32:12
Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Genesis 35:11
And said to him: I am God almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

Genesis 48:19
But he refusing, said: I know, my son, I know: and this also shall become a people, and shall be multiplied; but his younger brother shall be greater than he; and his seed shall grow into nations.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,.... Or a "middle person", or a man "between two" y; meaning either one that went and stood between the two armies of Israel and the Philistines, as the Jewish writers generally interpret it: or a "dueller" z, as others, with which our version agrees; one that proposed to fight a duel, and have the war decided by two persons, of which he would be one:

named Goliath of Gath; which was one of the places where the Anakims or giants were driven, and left, in the times of Joshua, and from whom this man descended, Joshua 11:22

whose height was six cubits and a span; and taking a cubit after the calculation of Bishop Cumberland a to be twenty one inches, and more, and a span to be half a cubit, the height of this man was eleven feet four inches, and somewhat more; which need not seem incredible, since the coffin of Orestea, the son of Agamemnon, is said b to be seven cubits long; and Eleazar, a Jew, who because of his size was called the giant, and was presented by Artabanus, king of the Parthians, to Tiberius Caesar, is said by Josephus c to be seven cubits high; and one Gabbara of Arabia, in the times of Claudius Caesar, measured nine feet nine inches, as Pliny d relates, and who elsewhere e speaks of a people in Ethiopia, called Syrbotae, who were eight cubits high; the Septuagint version makes Goliath to be only four cubits and a span high, and so Josephus f; that is, about eight feet.

y איש הבינים "vir intermedius", Montanus; "inter duo", Vatablus; "vir medietatum", Noldius, p. 194. No. 283. z "Quidam duellator", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. a Of Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 2. p. 57. b Herodot. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 68. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. c Antiqu. l. 18. c. 5. sect. 5. d Nat. Hist. ib. e Ibid. l. 6. 30. f Antiqu. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A champion - literally, “a man between the two camps:” i. e., one who did not fight in the ranks like an ordinary soldier, but came forth into the space between the hostile camps to challenge the mightiest man of his enemies to come and fight him.

Goliath of Gath - One of the places mentioned in Joshua 11:22 as still retaining a remnant of the sons of Anak; Gaza and Ashdod being the others. The race of giants (the Rephaim, from רפא râphâ' ) is mentioned again in the account of David’s Philistine wars 2 Samuel 21:15-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8. It appears from these passages that Goliath had a brother Lahmi. Four are named as being “born to the giant in Gath.” See Deuteronomy 2:10-11, Deuteronomy 2:20-21; Deuteronomy 3:11-13.

Six cubits ... - If the cubit, the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, is about 1 12 feet; and the span, the distance from the thumb to the middle or little finger, when stretched apart to the full length, be half a cubit, six cubits and a span would equal about nine feet nine inches. The bed of Og king of Bashan was nine cubits long Deuteronomy 3:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 17:4. There went out a champion — Our word champion comes from campus, the field; Campio est enim ille qui pugnat in campo, hoc est, in castris, "Champion is he, properly, who fights in the field; i.e., in camps." A man well skilled in arms, strong, brave, and patriotic.

But is this the meaning of the original איש הבנים ish habbenayim, a middle man, the man between two; that is, as here, the man who undertakes to settle the disputes between two armies or nations. So our ancient champions settled disputes between contending parties by what was termed camp fight, hence the campio or champion. The versions know not well what to make of this man. The Vulgate calls him sir spurius, "a bastard;" the Septuagint, ανηρ δυνατος, "a strong or powerful man;" the Targum, גברא מביניהון gabra mibbeyneyhon, "a man from between them;" the Arabic, [Arabic] rujil jibar, "a great or gigantic man;" the Syriac is the same; and Josephus terms him ανηρ παμμεγεθιστατος, "an immensely great man." The Vulgate has given him the notation of spurius or bastard, because it considered the original as expressing a son of two, i.e., a man whose parents are unknown. Among all these I consider our word champion, as explained above, the best and most appropriate to the original terms.

Whose height was six cubits and a span. — The word cubit signifies the length from cubitus, the elbow, to the top of the middle finger, which is generally rated at one foot six inches. The span is the distance from the top of the middle finger to the end of the thumb, when extended as far as they can stretch on a plain; this is ordinarily nine inches. Were we sure that these were the measures, and their extent, which are intended in the original words, we could easily ascertain the height of this Philistine; it would then be nine feet nine inches, which is a tremendous height for a man.

But the versions are not all agreed in his height. The Septuagint read τεσσαρων πηχεων και σπιθαμης, four cubits and a span; and Josephus reads the same. It is necessary however to observe that the Septuagint, in the Codex Alexandrinus, read with the Hebrew text. But what was the length of the ancient cubit? This has been variously computed; eighteen inches, twenty inches and a half, and twenty-one inches. If we take the first measurement, he was nine feet nine; if the second, and read palm instead of span, with the Vulgate and others, he was ten feet seven inches and a half; if we take the last, which is the estimate of Graevius, with the span, he was eleven feet three inches; or if we go to the exactest measurement, as laid down in Bishop Cumberland's tables, where he computes the cubit at 21.888 inches, the span at 10.944 inches, and the palm at 3.684 inches, then the six cubits and the span will make exactly 11 feet 10.272 inches. If we take the palm instead of the span, then the height will be 11 feet 3.012 inches. But I still think that the nine feet nine inches is the most reasonable.