All: Where the oldest copies differ

Where the oldest copies differ

Two numbers a reader notices: Goliath's height and Saul's reign

Goliath. At 1 Samuel 17:4 the Literal Standard Version prints its main reading and then, in double brackets, an alternative measurement of four cubits and a span (1 Samuel 17:4, LSV). A cubit is roughly a foot and a half, so the two readings differ by about a foot and a half of height. ⛔ No manuscript source naming which copies carry which figure is held here, so this file records that the alternative exists and is disclosed on the page, and does not attribute it.

Saul. 1 Samuel 13:1 is the verse that reads oddly in a literal rendering, because the Hebrew as it stands gives an impossible age. The Literal Standard Version prints a bracketed alternative of thirty at that point (1 Samuel 13:1, LSV); the Berean Standard Bible resolves it in the text: "Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years." (1 Samuel 13:1, BSB). ⚠️ Different versions handle this verse differently, and the differences are visible by comparing them, which is the honest thing a reader can do here without a manuscript.

Sources: 1 Samuel 17:4 (LSV); 1 Samuel 13:1 (LSV and BSB).

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  • 1 Samuel 13:1bsb

    Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.

  • 1 Samuel 17:4bsb

    Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

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Two numbers a reader notices: Goliath's height and Saul's reign · Bubble Bible