SEV Biblia, Chapter 17:5
Y traía un almete de acero en su cabeza, e iba vestido con corazas de planchas; y era el peso de las corazas cinco mil siclos de bronce.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 17:5
Verse 5. He was armed with a coat of mail] The words in the original, yqq wr shiryon kaskassim, mean a coat of mail formed of plates of brass overlapping each other, like the scales of a fish, or tiles of a house. This is the true notion of the original terms.
With thin plates of brass or iron, overlapping each other, were the ancient coats of mail formed in different countries; many formed in this way may be now seen in the tower of London.
The weight-five thousand shekels] Following Bishop Cumberland's tables, and rating the shekel at two hundred and nineteen grains, and the Roman ounce at four hundred and thirty-eight grains, we find that Goliath's coat of mail, weighing five thousand shekels, was exactly one hundred and fifty-six pounds four ounces avoirdupois. A vast weight for a coat of mail, but not all out of proportion to the man.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head , etc.] This was a piece of armour, which covered the head in the day of battle; these were usually made of the skins of beasts, of leather, and which were covered with plates of iron, or brass; and sometimes made of all iron, or of brass f349 ; as this seems to have been: and he was armed with a coat of mail ; which reached from the neck to the middle, and consisted of various plates of brass laid on one another, like the scales of fishes f350 , so close together that no dart or arrow could pierce between: and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass : which made one hundred and fifty six pounds and a quarter of zygostatic or avoirdupois weight; and therefore he must be a very strong man indeed to carry such a weight. So the armour of the ancient Romans were all of brass, as this mans; their helmets, shields, greaves, coats of mail, all of brass, as Livy says f351 ; and so in the age of the Grecian heroes f352 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - Men so entirely depend upon God in all things, that when he withdraw his help, the most valiant and resolute cannot find their hearts of hands, as daily experience shows.
Original Hebrew
וכובע 3553 נחשׁת 5178 על 5921 ראשׁו 7218 ושׁריון 8302 קשׂקשׂים 7193 הוא 1931 לבושׁ 3847 ומשׁקל 4948 השׁריון 8302 חמשׁת 2568 אלפים 505 שׁקלים 8255 נחשׁת׃ 5178
