1 Samuel 17:9
in 1 Samuel 17If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and labor for us.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
KJV
If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 17
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIf he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants,.... For which it does not appear he had any commission or authority to say; nor did the Philistines think themselves obliged to abide by what he said, since, when he was slain, they did not yield themselves servants to the Israelites: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us; to which terms also the Israelites did not consent; nor did David, who engaged with him, enter the fray on such conditions.
This site's exposition
Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul
on 1 Samuel 17:8-9
Goliath proposes representative combat: one man from each side, and the losing nation serves the winner. The proposal frames the whole chapter, because whoever fights him fights for all Israel, and his victory or fall is counted to the people he stands for. Gill observes that the Philistines never honored the terms after their champion fell, which is what such offers were worth.
This site's exposition
then we will be your servants
John Gill doubts that Goliath held any authority to bind the Philistines to these terms. The offer stakes a whole nation's freedom on one man's arm. David takes up that stake for Israel at verse 32.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The Chaldee paraphrase brings him in boasting that he was the man that had killed Hophni and Phinehas and taken the ark prisoner, but that the Philistines had never given him so much as the command of a regiment in recompence of his services, whereas Saul had been made king for his services: "Let him therefore take up the challenge." 4.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
a champion--Hebrew, a "man between two"; that is, a person who, on the part of his own people, undertook to determine the national quarrel by engaging in single combat with a chosen warrior in the hostile army.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Then will we be your servants - Of this stipulation we hear nothing farther.
The words behind it
18 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יוּכַ֞ל | yukhal | he will be able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לְהִלָּחֵ֤ם | lehilachem | to fight | H3898 → | 177 times |
| אִתִּי֙ | ʾiti | with me | H854 → | 929 times |
| וְהִכָּ֔נִי | vehikani | and he will strike down me | H5221 → | 499 times |
| וְהָיִ֥ינוּ | vehayinu | and we will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָכֶ֖ם | lakhem | of you | ||
| לַעֲבָדִ֑ים | laavadim | <into> slaves | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| אֽוּכַל־ | ʾukhal- | I will prevail | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לוֹ֙ | lo | to <the> him | ||
| וְהִכִּיתִ֔יו | vehikitiv | and I will strike down him | H5221 → | 499 times |
| וִהְיִ֤יתֶם | vihyitem | and you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָ֙נוּ֙ | lanu | of us | ||
| לַעֲבָדִ֔ים | laavadim | <into> slaves | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וַעֲבַדְתֶּ֖ם | vaavadtem | and you will serve | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֹתָֽנוּ׃ | ʾotanu | <obj.> us | H853 → | 10935 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יוּכַ֞לhe will be able
yukhalH3201 →194 times
לְהִלָּחֵ֤םto fight
lehilachemH3898 →177 times
אִתִּי֙with me
ʾitiH854 →929 times
וְהִכָּ֔נִיand he will strike down me
vehikaniH5221 →499 times
וְהָיִ֥ינוּand we will become
vehayinuH1961 →3559 times
לָכֶ֖םof you
lakhem
לַעֲבָדִ֑ים<into> slaves
laavadimH5650 →799 times
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
אֽוּכַל־I will prevail
ʾukhal-H3201 →194 times
לוֹ֙to <the> him
lo
וְהִכִּיתִ֔יוand I will strike down him
vehikitivH5221 →499 times
וִהְיִ֤יתֶםand you will become
vihyitemH1961 →3559 times
לָ֙נוּ֙of us
lanu
לַעֲבָדִ֔ים<into> slaves
laavadimH5650 →799 times
וַעֲבַדְתֶּ֖םand you will serve
vaavadtemH5647 →288 times
אֹתָֽנוּ׃<obj.> us
ʾotanuH853 →10935 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 11:1Soon Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 12:12
But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was…
- 1 Kings 20:34
Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I…
- Ezekiel 17:13
He took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land,
- Genesis 26:28
“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you
- Judges 21:8
So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
- 1 Samuel 12:12
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.