How Tall Was Goliath

The Two Textual Numbers

The biblical text preserves two different numbers for Goliath's height, from two different manuscript traditions:

• Masoretic Text (KJV, standard Hebrew) — 1 Samuel 17:4: "a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was] six cubits and a span."
• Septuagint (LXX, Greek) and Dead Sea Scrolls (4QSam^a) — four cubits and a span.

The difference is significant. The Masoretic reading gives a giant of legendary proportions; the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls reading describes an unusually tall soldier, but within the range of human height.

How Long Was a Cubit?

The Hebrew ammah (אַמָּה, Strong's H520) — "cubit" — varied in length. The "common cubit" was approximately 17.5 inches (44.5 cm) — the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. A "long cubit" used for royal and temple construction was about 20.4 inches (52 cm).

The span (Hebrew zeret, H2239) was half a cubit, approximately 9 inches (23 cm) — the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger on a spread hand.

The Calculations

Using the common cubit (17.5 inches):

• Masoretic: 6 cubits + 1 span = 6 × 17.5 + 9 = 114 inches = 9 feet 6 inches (about 2.9 meters).
• LXX / Dead Sea Scrolls: 4 cubits + 1 span = 4 × 17.5 + 9 = 79 inches = 6 feet 7 inches (about 2.0 meters).

Using the long cubit, the numbers stretch further: the Masoretic reading becomes 10 feet 11 inches, and the LXX reading becomes 7 feet 7 inches.

Which Reading Is Original?

Most modern textual critics consider the four-cubits-and-a-span reading to be earlier, for several reasons:

• The Dead Sea Scrolls (4QSam^a, discovered 1952, dating to ~50 BC) preserve "four cubits and a span" — earlier than the Masoretic manuscripts by approximately a thousand years.
• The Septuagint (Greek translation c. 250–100 BC) and Josephus (Antiquities 6.9.1) both give "four cubits and a span."
• Scribal tendency generally expands rather than reduces dramatic numbers; a six-cubit reading is more plausibly a later embellishment than a contraction.

Translations differ on which reading to follow. The NIV 2011 and ESV footnotes preserve both; the text of most English Bibles follows the Masoretic "six cubits and a span." The KJV follows the Masoretic, which is why "nine feet tall" is the traditional English-speaking understanding.

The Other Biblical References to Goliath's Size

Beyond his height, Scripture gives details of Goliath's equipment — and the weights are internally consistent with the LXX's lower reading:

• His coat of mail — "five thousand shekels of brass" (1 Samuel 17:5) ≈ 125 pounds.
• His spear head — "six hundred shekels of iron" (1 Samuel 17:7) ≈ 15 pounds.

A 6-foot-7 soldier of exceptional strength (LXX reading) could carry this equipment into combat. A 9-foot-6 giant (Masoretic) could carry much more. The equipment details are consistent with either reading but fit the lower number more straightforwardly.

Historical Context: Goliath's Lineage

Goliath was a Philistine from Gath (1 Samuel 17:4), one of the five Philistine city-states. Gath is linked in Scripture with the descendants of the Anakim — a people described as tall (Numbers 13:28, 32–33, Deuteronomy 2:10–11, 21) who survived in small remnants after Joshua's conquest, specifically in Gath, Gaza, and Ashdod (Joshua 11:22). The biblical text places Goliath within this historically taller lineage.

1 Chronicles 20:4–8 records three other Philistine giants killed in later campaigns, including "Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite" and a man with "six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot." The text treats exceptional Philistine height as a recurring, though not universal, feature.

Summary

• KJV / Masoretic reading: 6 cubits + 1 span = ~9 ft 6 in.
• Septuagint / Dead Sea Scrolls reading: 4 cubits + 1 span = ~6 ft 7 in.
• Most textual critics consider the lower number earlier.
• Either way, Goliath stands above the average ancient soldier (approximately 5 feet 5 inches based on skeletal evidence from the period).