1 Samuel 17–18
David and Goliath: the short and long editions
The oldest Greek of 1 Samuel 17–18 lacks about 45% of the Hebrew, including David's arrival with food (17:12–31), Saul's question "whose son is this?" (17:55–18:5), Saul's first spear (18:10–11) and the Merab marriage (18:17–19). The library's Greek shows exactly these gaps.
Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Ancient revision (recension)
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Explanations
- Two Hebrew editions combined
- The Greek translated a short Hebrew story; the Masoretic Text combines it with a second account (Tov, Lust).
- Abridged in Greek
- The translator removed verses to resolve contradictions (Barthélemy, Gooding).
- One narrative
- Traditional readers harmonize the long text: Saul asks about David's father, not his identity.
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Samuel
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 1 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
17:12–31, 41, 50, 55–58; 18:1–5, 9–11, 17–19, 30 absent
The library's Greek (Giguet) prints the short text, with the Hebrew verse numbers of what it contains in parentheses. The library now places each verse at its own number, so the missing verses show as gaps. 17:39–40 are combined in one verse. Vaticanus-type text.
Mid-1st century BC
4QSam-a (4Q51)
How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.
Preserves parts of chapter 17, including 17:4. Whether 4QSam-a contained the long or the short edition cannot be fully established from what survives; the site does not claim that it does.
Source: F. M. Cross, D. W. Parry, R. J. Saley and E. Ulrich, Qumran Cave 4.XII: 1–2 Samuel (DJD XVII, 2005)
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Follows the long Hebrew.
5th century AD onward
Later Greek (Alexandrinus, Lucianic manuscripts)
How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.
Add the missing verses, translated to match a Hebrew text like the Masoretic. Not in the library; reported in the literature.
Source: E. Tov, "The Composition of 1 Samuel 16–18 in the Light of the Septuagint" (1999) ↗
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
בֶּן־מִי־זֶה הַנַּעַר אַבְנֵר (17:55)
Whose son is this youth, Abner?
The long edition.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Abner, whose son is this youth? (17:55)
Follows the Hebrew.
What changed, and why
Note for the library: earlier, the digital French Septuagint packed the short text into the first verse slots, so 17:12 showed what is really 17:32. That was a data problem, not an ancient variant, and has been corrected.
What the evidence shows
- The Vaticanus-type Greek lacks about 45% of chapters 17–18.
Source: E. Tov, "The Composition of 1 Samuel 16–18 in the Light of the Septuagint" (1999) ↗
- The short text reflects an earlier Hebrew edition.
Source: E. Tov, "The Composition of 1 Samuel 16–18 in the Light of the Septuagint" (1999) ↗; University of Helsinki dissertation on textual plurality in Samuel ↗
Sources
Related lessons
- David and Goliath →In the valley of Elah a Philistine champion from Gath, Goliath, challenges Israel to single combat for forty days. David, bringing food to his brothers, volunteers. He refuses Saul's armor, takes five stones and a sling, and strikes Goliath in the forehead. The story survives in two ancient editions, and Goliath's height differs between witnesses.
- Jonathan, Michal and Saul's Jealousy →Jonathan loves David as his own soul and gives him his robe and weapons. The women sing that David has slain ten thousands; Saul becomes jealous and twice hurls a spear at him. Saul offers his elder daughter Merab, then gives her to another man. Michal loves David; Saul sets a bride-price of a hundred Philistine foreskins, hoping David will die. David brings two hundred.
- David Anointed; the Harp for Saul →God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons. Seven pass by; God chooses none. The youngest, keeping sheep, is David: "Arise, anoint him." The Spirit comes on David and leaves Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubles him. David is brought to play the lyre, and Saul loves him and makes him his armor-bearer.
- Investigation: David and Goliath in Two Ancient Editions →The oldest Greek translation of 1 Samuel 17–18 is about 45% shorter than the Hebrew. It lacks David's arrival with food for his brothers, Saul's question "whose son is this?", Jonathan's first covenant and the Merab marriage. Many scholars think two Hebrew versions of David's introduction were combined. Separately, Goliath is six cubits tall in the Hebrew but four in the Greek, Qumran and Josephus.
- How 1 Samuel Came to Us →Samuel was one book in the Hebrew Bible, divided in two by the Greek translators. Its Hebrew text is unusually difficult, and the Greek often reflects a different Hebrew. A Dead Sea Scroll, 4QSam-a, agrees with the Greek in many places, preserves a paragraph found nowhere else in the Bible, and changed how scholars study the text of the Old Testament.