Texts in Conversation
1 Samuel 17 says that Saul dressed David in armor and in his own tunic. The Greek Septuagint changes this to someone else's armor, following a pattern in this version that reshapes and emphasizes elements that were considered more important.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Samuel 17:38
Hebrew Bible
37 David went on to say, “The Lord who delivered me from the lion and the bear will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Then Saul said to David, “Go! The Lord will be with you.” 38 Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him. 39 David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX 1 Samuel 17:38
Septuagint
37 The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord shall be with you. 38 And Saul clothed David with a military coat, and put a brass helmet on his head. 39 And he fastened his sword on David over his coat: and he grew weary walking with them once and again: and David said to Saul, I shall not be able to go with these, for I have not tested them: so they remove them from him.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... there are small variations in the description of his armour. In verse 5, the Masoretic text describes Goliath’s helmet as bronze (נחשת) whereas this word is absent in the Greek. On the other hand, the Masoretic text describes Goliath’s chain mail as 5000 shekels of bronze (נחשת) whereas the LXX describes it as bronze and iron (χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου). In the Masoretic text verse 6, Goliath has some sort of scimitar between his shoulders (כידון) whereas the LXX mentions a shield (ἀσπὶς). A similar variation can be found in verse 38 where the Masoretic includes the additional information that Saul clothed David in his armour (וילבש אתו שריון) as well as his cloak and helmet. These variations confirm our earlier proposition that such details were included for their effect in the narrative and not as historical ‘facts’. Whilst some of these details could be attributed to scribal error or translational problems, their cumulative effect is that the description is altered and this must have been observed by the scribes/translators ..."
Rachelle Gilmour, Representing the Past: A Literary Analysis of Narrative Historiography in the Book of Samuel, VTSup 143 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 273–274.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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