Bible Strands
1 Samuel 17:5
and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the Philistine champion Goliath as he steps forward from his camp to confront the Israelite army.
The words — כֹּבַע/kova' (helmet) and שִׁרְיֹן/širyon (body armor) denote protective headgear and layered scale armor, respectively.
The thread — The armor inventory continues immediately in 1 Samuel 17:6 with leg guards and a javelin, and reappears in 1 Samuel 17:38 when Saul offers his own gear to David.
Why it lands — The verse catalogs Goliath's military readiness to establish the physical scale of the coming confrontation, requiring the reader to register the sheer weight and coverage of his protection before the battle begins.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.