Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
Compare the notes at 1 Samuel 16:14-23. The Vatican manuscript of the Septuagint omits the whole passage (1 Samuel 17:12-32); and Kennicott ('Dissertation on the Hebrew Text') maintains the propriety of its omission as an interpolation (pp. 418-432; also pp. 554-558). But the internal evidence in support of its authenticity is strong; and Tischendorf, in the notes to his edition, asserts it on the authority of the most ancient MSS. [The Alexandrian version begins this 12th verse, kai eipe Dauid.] (See observations at the end of this chapter.)
Verse 16. The Philistine ... presented himself forty days - i:e., probably for a long time, as the phrase is frequently used in the East (see the note at Genesis 7:12).