וְשָׁא֤וּל וְהֵ֙מָּה֙ וְכׇל־אִ֣ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּעֵ֖מֶק הָאֵלָ֑ה נִלְחָמִ֖ים עִם־פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃

Saul and the brothers and everyone else on

Israel’s side were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines.

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation—an adaptation of the NJPS translation—showing a slight modification projected for October 2023. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ.)


On this kind of usage of אִישׁ, see my comment at 13:6 and my comment at Josh 10:24.


As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘all the men of Israel’ recognizes a collective usage, but without a situational orientation. See my comment at Josh 10:24. Meanwhile, the fact that women are not in view can go without saying, because it is self-evident from the military context.