2 Samuel 21:19, the verse where Elhanan kills Goliath
Samuel names Elhanan as Goliath’s killer; Chronicles names Elhanan as killer of Lahmi, Goliath’s brother. The two accounts frame the same battle differently.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads בן־יערי ארגים. The copies also carry בן־יעיר [hebrew manuscript attestation]; the committee kept the base text. The single early witness for בן־יערי ארגים outweighs the undated witness for בן־יעיר, and internal probability favors the longer, harder reading.”
The committee’s APB 3.5 textual decision kept the base text for a different wording within 2 Samuel 21:19: “The base text reads בן־יערי ארגים.” Its note says that “internal probability favors the longer, harder reading.” The printed APB text presents Elhanan striking Goliath in Samuel and Lahmi, Goliath’s brother, in Chronicles. No rationale note matches this crux; the pericope audit verdict is flagged.
The argument for each reading
If Samuel's text is primary
Reading A follows the Samuel wording in 2 Samuel 21:19, where Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite strikes Goliath the Gittite. The supplied MT witness for Samuel supports this form, and the APB printed text likewise reads that Elhanan “struck Goliath the Gittite.” The surrounding Samuel passage places this event among further wars with the Philistines, followed by another conflict at Gath. On this reading, the name Goliath belongs directly to Elhanan’s victim in the Samuel account. The question raised by the parallel is whether Samuel’s wording should be read on its own terms or alongside Chronicles’ more specific identification of a different victim.
If Chronicles preserves the sense
Reading B follows 1 Chronicles 20:5, where Elhanan son of Jair strikes Lahmi, identified as the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The supplied MT witness for Chronicles supports this wording, and the APB printed text gives the same identification. Chronicles places the event in another battle with the Philistines and preserves the same distinctive spear comparison, its shaft like a weaver’s beam. This reading accounts for the parallel by distinguishing Goliath from the man Elhanan kills. Its case rests on the Chronicler’s explicit relational phrase, rather than treating Goliath himself as the victim in this battle.
The supplied material shows two parallel accounts with different identifications of Elhanan’s victim, but it does not provide an explanation that resolves their relationship. The APB 3.5 decision addresses the form of Elhanan’s father’s name, not the Goliath and Lahmi difference. This variant does not change the shared portrayal of Elhanan in battle or the shared comparison of his opponent’s spear shaft to a weaver’s beam.
Common questions
Who killed Goliath, David or Elhanan?
At this crux, 2 Samuel 21:19 says Elhanan struck Goliath the Gittite. The supplied parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:5 says Elhanan struck Lahmi, the brother of Goliath.
Does 1 Chronicles say Elhanan killed Goliath?
No. In the supplied text of 1 Chronicles 20:5, Elhanan strikes Lahmi, identified as the brother of Goliath the Gittite.
What is the textual difference between Samuel and Chronicles here?
Samuel identifies Elhanan’s victim as Goliath the Gittite. Chronicles identifies the victim as Lahmi, the brother of Goliath, while retaining the battle setting and spear comparison.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.