1 Samuel 17:36 (ASV)

Passage

Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant was keeping his father`s sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,

1 Samuel 17:35 I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

1 Samuel 17:36 Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

1 Samuel 17:37 And David said, Jehovah that 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 Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and Jehovah shall be with thee.

1 Samuel 17:38 And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "servant", "smote", "both", "lion", "bear", "uncircumcised", "philistine", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "servant" and "smote", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 35's "I went out after him and smote..." into verse 37's "And David said Jehovah that delivered me...", so "servant" and "smote" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "servant" and "smote" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.