1 Samuel 17:11 (GNV)

Passage

When Saul and all Israel heard those wordes of the Philistim, they were discouraged, and greatly afraide.

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 17:9 If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then wil we be your seruants: but if I ouercome him, and kill him, then shall yee be our seruants, and serue vs.

1 Samuel 17:10 Also the Philistim saide, I defie the hoste of Israel this day: giue mee a man, that we may fight together.

1 Samuel 17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard those wordes of the Philistim, they were discouraged, and greatly afraide.

1 Samuel 17:12 Nowe this Dauid was the sonne of an Ephrathite of Beth-lehem Iudah, named Ishai, which had eight sonnes: and this man was taken for an olde man in the daies of Saul.

1 Samuel 17:13 And the three eldest sonnes of Ishai went and followed Saul to the battel: and the names of his three sonnes that went to battell, were Eliab the Eldest, and the next Abinadab, and the thirde Shammah.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "saul", "israel", "heard", "wordes", "philistim", "discouraged", "greatly", and "afraide". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "saul" and "israel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "Also the Philistim saide I defie the..." into verse 12's "Nowe this Dauid was the sonne of...", so "saul" and "israel" 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 "saul" and "israel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.