The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field.”
- KJV 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.
- BSB “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- NKJV And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- NLT “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Goliath threatens to feed David's flesh to the birds and beasts. His boastful menace expresses the pride that precedes his fall.
Overview
The giant's grisly taunt declares his certainty of victory and his contempt for David. His arrogant boasting will be ironically reversed when his own body and the Philistine dead become carrion. The scene shows that human pride against God's purposes is doomed, however fearsome it appears.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ezek 28:9–10Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? but you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
- 1 Kgs 20:10–11Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.”
- Prov 18:12Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.
- 1 Sam 17:46Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
- Jer 9:23Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
- Ezek 28:2Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God —
- Eccl 9:11–12I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
- Ezek 39:17–20You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 17:44 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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