1 Samuel 17:50 and 2 Samuel 21:19 appear to be contradictory. The second passage says Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim of Bethlehem killed Goliath the Gittite. If this is true, how could David have killed him?

It seems to me that we have two Goliaths here. The second may be the son of the first. Some versions have the second giant as brother of the original, more famous Goliath. So the answer to the question is yes! Two Goliaths were slain by two different persons. Interestingly, both the slayers were from Bethlehem. (Assuming Elhanan was not from the other Bethlehem, which lay in the northern part of Israel -- see Joshua 19:15. See'name of cities as well as persons are often duplicated in the scriptures!)

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