1 Samuel 17:8 (DBY)

Passage

And he stood and cried to the ranks of Israel, and said to them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I the Philistine, and ye servants of Saul? choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 17:6 And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders.

1 Samuel 17:7 And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and the shield-bearer went before him.

1 Samuel 17:8 And he stood and cried to the ranks of Israel, and said to them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I the Philistine, and ye servants of Saul? choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.

1 Samuel 17:9 If he be able to fight with me, and to smite me, then will we be your servants; but if I overcome and smite him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us.

1 Samuel 17:10 And the Philistine said, I have defied the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "stood", "cried", "ranks", "israel", "said", "come", "battle", and "array". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "stood" and "cried", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "And the shaft of his spear was..." into verse 9's "If he be able to fight with...", so "stood" and "cried" 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 "stood" and "cried" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.