1 Samuel 14:30

30 It would have been a lot better, believe me, if the soldiers had eaten their fill of whatever they took from the enemy. Who knows how much worse we could have whipped them!"

1 Samuel 14:30 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:30

How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of
the spoil of their enemies which they found?
&c.] That is, had they been, allowed eat freely of the provisions, of bread, wine they found in the enemy's camp, they would have been much more refreshed and strengthened than it could be supposed he was with eating a little honey; if that had had such an effect upon him, of what service would a full meal have been to the people?

for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the
Philistines?
the people would have had more strength to smite them, and would have pursued them with greater ardour and swiftness, and so have made a greater slaughter among them than they had; he intimates that Saul's end would have been better answered by suffering the people to eat, than by forbidding them.

1 Samuel 14:30 In-Context

28 A soldier spoke up, "Your father has put the army under solemn oath, saying, 'A curse on the man who eats anything before evening!' No wonder the soldiers are drooping!"

29 Jonathan said, "My father has imperiled the country. Just look how quickly my energy has returned since I ate a little of this honey!

30 It would have been a lot better, believe me, if the soldiers had eaten their fill of whatever they took from the enemy. Who knows how much worse we could have whipped them!"

31 They killed Philistines that day all the way from Micmash to Aijalon, but the soldiers ended up totally exhausted.

32 Then they started plundering. They grabbed anything in sight - sheep, cattle, calves - and butchered it where they found it. Then they glutted themselves - meat, blood, the works.