1 Samuel 17:44

44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

1 Samuel 17:44 in Other Translations

44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field."

44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

44 "Come on," said the Philistine. "I'll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I'll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice."

44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the field.

44 "Come on," the Philistine told David, "and I'll give your body to the birds."

44 "Come here," the Philistine called to David, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!"

44 "Come over here," he said. "I'll feed your body to the birds of the air! I'll feed it to the wild animals!"

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 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.

43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 40:19; Revelation 19:17
• 2. 2 Samuel 21:10; Jeremiah 34:20; 1 Kings 20:10-11