1 Samuel 17:12

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	וְדָוִד֩ ve.da.Vid	H1732	David · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Ephrathite	אִ֨ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Beth-lehem-judah	מִבֵּ֥ית mi.Beit	H1035	Beth-Lechem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
name	וּשְׁמ֣וֹ u.she.Mo	H8034	an appellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Jesse	יִשַׁ֔י yi.Shai	H3448	Jishai · proper noun, a man's name
eight	שְׁמֹנָ֣ה she.mo.Nah	H8083	a cardinal number · noun, common both genders singular absolute
sons	בָנִ֑ים va.Nim	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
man	וְהָאִישׁ֙ ve.ha.'Ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
went	בָּ֥א ba'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
men	בַאֲנָשִֽׁים va.'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
man	זָקֵ֖ן za.Ken	H2204	to be old · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
days	בִּימֵ֣י bi.Mei	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Saul	שָׁא֔וּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.
1 Samuel 16:10-11 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
1 Samuel 16:18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty…
Ruth 4:22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
1 Samuel 17:58 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.
1 Chronicles 2:13-16 And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,
1 Samuel 16:1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with…
Matthew 1:6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Forty days the two armies lay encamped facing one another, each advantageously posted, but neither forward to engage. Either they were parleying and treating of an accommodation or they were waiting for recruits; and perhaps there were frequent skirmishes between small detached parties. All this while, twice a day, morning and evening, did the insulting champion appear in the field and repeat his challenge, his own heart growing more and more proud for his not being answered and the people of Israel more and more timorous, while God designed hereby to ripen him for destruction and to make Israel's deliverance the more illustrious. All this while David is keeping his father's sheep, but at th…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

I defy the armies of Israel . . .; give me a man, that we may fight together--In cases of single combat, a warrior used to go out in front of his party, and advancing towards the opposite ranks, challenge someone to fight with him. If his formidable appearance, or great reputation for physical strength and heroism, deterred any from accepting the challenge, he used to parade himself within hearing of the enemy's lines, specify in a loud, boastful, bravado style, defying them, and pouring out torrents of abuse and insolence to provoke their resentment.

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The 12th verse, to the 31st inclusive, are wanting in the Septuagint; as also the 41st verse; and from the 54th to the end; with the first five verses of 1 Samuel 18, and the 9th, 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of the same. All these parts are found in the Codex Alexandrinus; but it appears that the MS. from which the Codex Alexandrinus was copied, had them not. See observations at the end of this chapter, Sa1 17:58 (note). Dr. Kennicott has rendered it very probable that these portions are not a genuine part of the text. Notwithstanding what Bishop Warburton and others have done to clear the chronology of the present printed Hebrew, it is impossible to make a clear consistent sense of the…

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The Church Fathers

David, however, was the son of an Ephrathite man. David indeed, as always, is the Lord Christ, who is the son of an Ephrathite man, that is, a fruitful one; because from that ancient people of the Hebrews, who by believing bore many fruits of righteousness, he deigned to take flesh. Although he is also always born and nurtured in the fruitful heart of his faithful ones through love. Not only the mystical names of the place, of which the interpretation is well-known, but also the place itself, Ephrathah or Bethlehem, bore witness to Christ being born there. And fittingly that elderly man, that is, a people mature in the knowledge of the law, is remembered to have had eight sons, because after the proclamation of the Sabbath and the Old Testament, he also foretold the grace of the Gospel and the faith of the resurrection, which was to come through Christ.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Bethlehem — House of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
David, City of — (1.) David took from the Jebusites the fortress of Mount Zion. He “dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David” (1 Chr. 11:7). This was the name afterwards given to the castle and royal palace…
Elah, The Valley Of — (valley of the terebinth), the valley in which David killed Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:2,19) It lay somewhere near Socoh of Judah and Azekah, and was nearer Ekron than any other Philistine town. 1Sam. 17.
Elhanan — Whom God has graciously bestowed. (1.) A warrior of the time of David famed for his exploits. In the Authorized Version (2 Sam. 21:19) it is recorded that “Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a…
Ephrathite — A citizen of Ephratah, the old name of Bethlehem (Ruth 1:2; 1 Sam. 17:12), or Bethlehem-Judah.
Jesse — Firm, or a gift, a son of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:17, 22; Matt. 1:5, 6; Luke 3:32). He was the father of eight sons, the youngest of whom was David (1 Sam. 17:12). The phrase “stem of…
Mahlon — Sickly, the elder of Elimelech the Bethlehemite’s two sons by Naomi. He married Ruth and died childless (Ruth 1:2, 5; 4:9, 10), in the land of Moab.
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
War — The Israelites had to take possession of the Promised Land by conquest. They had to engage in a long and bloody war before the Canaanitish tribes were finally subdued. Except in the case of Jericho…

1 Samuel 17:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 17:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 1 Samuel 17:12

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 17:1-54

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 17:12

Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:12