1 Samuel 17:50

1 Samuel 17:50

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

a. ASV: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

b. YLT: And David is stronger than the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smiteth the Philistine, and putteth him to death, and there is no sword in the hand of David,

c. Amplified Bible Classic: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck down the Philistine and slew him. But no sword was in David’s hand.

d. Septuagint [1 Samuel 17:50, 51]: And David ran, and stood upon him, and took his sword, and slew him, and cut off his head: and the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, and they fled.

e. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: Thus David overpowered the philistine with the slingshot and stone, he smote the Philistine and killed him; there was no sword in David’s hand.

1. “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him…”

a. [So] David [Strong: 1732 Dâvid, daw-veed'; rarely (fully); דָּוִיד Dâvîyd; from the same as H1730; loving; David, the youngest son of Jesse:—David.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H1732 in the following manner: David (1,076x).]

b. prevailed [Strong: 2388 châzaq, khaw-zak'; a primitive root; to fasten upon; hence, to seize, be strong (figuratively, courageous, causatively strengthen, cure, help, repair, fortify), obstinate; to bind, restrain, conquer:—aid, amend, × calker, catch, cleave, confirm, be constant, constrain, continue, be of good (take) courage(-ous, -ly), encourage (self), be established, fasten, force, fortify, make hard, harden, help, (lay) hold (fast), lean, maintain, play the man, mend, become (wax) mighty, prevail, be recovered, repair, retain, seize, be (wax) sore, strengthen (self), be stout, be (make, shew, wax) strong(-er), be sure, take (hold), be urgent, behave self valiantly, withstand.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H2388 in the following manner: strong (48x), repair (47x), hold (37x), strengthened (28x), strengthen (14x), harden (13x), prevail (10x), encourage (9x), take (9x), courage (8x), caught (5x), stronger (5x), hold (5x), miscellaneous (52x).]

c. over [Strong: 4480 min, min; or מִנִּי minnîy; or מִנֵּי minnêy; (constructive plural) (Isaiah 30:11); for H4482; properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses:—above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, × neither, ×nor, (out) of, over, since, × then, through, × whether, with.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H4480 in the following manner: among, with, from, that not, since, after, at, by, whether.]

d. [the] Philistine [Strong: 6430 Pᵉlishtîy, pel-ish-tee'; patrial from H6429; a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth:—Philistine.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H6430 in the following manner: Philistine (287x), Philistim (1x).]

e. [with a] sling [Strong: 7050 qelaʻ, keh'-lah; from H7049; a sling; also a (door) screen (as if slung across), or the valve (of the door) itself:—hanging, leaf, sling.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H7050 in the following manner: hangings (15x), sling (4x), sling (with H3709) (1x), slingstones (with H68) (1x), leaves (1x).]

f. [and with a] stone [Strong: 68 ʼeben, eh'-ben; from the root of H1129 through the meaning to build; a stone:— carbuncle, mason, plummet, (chalk-, hail-, head-, sling-) stone(-ny), (divers) weight(-s).] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H68 in the following manner: stone(s) (247x), weight(s) (7x), divers weights (with H68) (3x), hailstones (3x), stony (2x), carbuncle (with H688) (1x), hailstones (with H1259) (1x), hailstones (with H417) (1x), headstone (1x), masons (with H7023) (1x), plummet (1x), slingstones (1x).]

g. [and] smote [Strong: 5221 nâkâh, naw-kaw'; a primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively):—beat, cast forth, clap, give (wounds), × go forward, × indeed, kill, make (slaughter), murderer, punish, slaughter, slay(-er, -ing), smite(-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, × surely, wound.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H5221 in the following manner: smite (348x), slay (92x), kill (20x), beat (9x), slaughter (5x), stricken (3x), given (3x), wounded (3x), strike (2x), stripes (2x), miscellaneous (13x).]

h. [the] Philistine [Strong: 6430 Pᵉlishtîy, pel-ish-tee'; patrial from H6429; a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth:—Philistine.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H6430 in the following manner: Philistine (287x), Philistim (1x).]

i. [and] slew [him] [Strong: 4191 mûwth, mooth; a primitive root; to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill:—× at all, × crying, (be) dead (body, man, one), (put to, worthy of) death, destroy(-er), (cause to, be like to, must) die, kill, necro(-mancer), × must needs, slay, × surely, × very suddenly, × in (no) wise.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H4191 in the following manner: die (424x), dead (130x), slay (100x), death (83x), surely (50x), kill (31x), dead man (3x), dead body (2x), in no wise (2x), miscellaneous (10x).]

2. “...but there was no sword in the hand of David.”

a. [but there was] no [Strong: 369 'ayin ah'-yin as if from a primitive root meaning to be nothing or not exist; a non-entity; generally used as a negative particle:--else, except, fail, (father-)less, be gone, in(-curable), neither, never, no (where), none, nor, (any, thing), not, nothing, to nought, past, un(-searchable), well-nigh, without.]

b. sword [Strong: 2719 chereb, kheh'-reb; from H2717; drought; also a cutting instrument (from its destructive effect), as a knife, sword, or other sharp implement:—axe, dagger, knife, mattock, sword, tool.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H2719 in the following manner: sword (401x), knife (5x), dagger (3x), axes (1x), mattocks (1x), TOOL (1x), sword (with H3027) (1x).]

c. [in the] hand [Strong: 3027 yâd, yawd; a primitive word; a hand (the open one [indicating power, means, direction, etc.], in distinction from 3709, the closed one); used (as noun, adverb, etc.) in a great variety of applications, both literally and figuratively, both proximate and remote [as follows]:—( be) able, × about, armholes, at, axletree, because of, beside, border, × bounty, broad, (broken-) handed, × by, charge, coast, consecrate, creditor, custody, debt, dominion, × enough, fellowship, force, × from, hand(-staves, -y work), × he, himself, × in, labour, large, ledge, (left-) handed, means, × mine, ministry, near, × of, × order, ordinance, × our, parts, pain, power, ×presumptuously, service, side, sore, state, stay, draw with strength, stroke, swear, terror, × thee, × by them, × themselves, × thine own, × thou, through, × throwing, thumb, times, × to, × under, × us, × wait on, (way-) side, where, wide, × with (him, me, you), work, yield, × yourselves.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H3027 in the following manner: hand (1,359x), by (44x), consecrate (with H4390) (14x), him (14x), power (12x), them (11x), places (8x), tenons (6x), thee (6x), coast (6x), side (5x), miscellaneous (130x).]

d. [of] David [Strong: 1732 Dâvid, daw-veed'; rarely (fully); דָּוִיד Dâvîyd; from the same as H1730; loving; David, the youngest son of Jesse:—David.] [BLB: The KJV translates Strong's H1732 in the following manner: David (1,076x).]

1). The slingshots used in David’s day were deadly in their accuracy.

a). Judges 20:15, 16  And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

20:16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every o  ne could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

2). Secular sources provide even more interesting information about slingshots used in warfare.

a). Ancient Slingshot Was as Deadly as a .44 Magnum:  The Roman slingers would have exacted a heavy toll. Recent experiments conducted in Germany showed that a 50-gram Roman bullet hurled by a trained slinger has only slightly less stopping power than a .44 magnum cartridge fired from a handgun. Other tests revealed that a trained slinger could hit a target smaller than a human being from 130 yards away. “That’s exactly the distance from the front rampart of the south [Roman] camp to the front rampart of the hill fort,” Reid noted.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/ancient-slingshot-lethal-44-magnum-scotland/

3). In my research I discovered most of the Philistine military helmets found in archeology showed an area across the whole forehead immediately above the eyebrows that was vulnerable to injury. Add to that the empowerment of the Holy Spirit upon David and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptural record, it is easy for us to view David’s slaying of Goliath as fact.