1 Samuel 17:44

44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!"

1 Samuel 17:44 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:44

And the Philistine said to David, come to me
He seems to have stood still, disdaining: to take another step towards such a pitiful combatant, and therefore bids him come up to him, and he would soon dispatch him; unless he said this, because David was light and nimble, and he heavy and unwieldy because of his bigness, and the burden of armour on him, and therefore could not make such haste as he wished to destroy his adversary, of which he made no doubt:

and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts
of the field;
the wild beasts he means; though Jarchi thinks he spoke improperly, since it is not the way of the beasts of the field, as sheep, oxen to devour a man, or even to eat any flesh; and therefore he observes, when David comes, he uses another word, which signifies the wild beasts of the earth, and so we render it, ( 1 Samuel 17:46 ) ; but Kimchi shows that even these are comprehended in the word here used, see ( Isaiah 18:6 ) .

1 Samuel 17:44 In-Context

42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was [only] a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance.
43 So the Philistine said to David, "[Am] I a dog, that you [are] coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!"
45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied!
46 This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down {and cut off your head}! Then I will give [the] corpses of the army of [the] Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God [who is] for Israel.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.