1 Samuel 17:46

WEB

Today, the Lord 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 this day 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,

KJV

This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Commentary

This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hands,.... Of which he was assured by divine inspiration, by the impulse of the Spirit of God upon him; or otherwise he could not have expressed himself with such certainty, and have given the particulars of what he should do, as in the following claus es: and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and yet he had no weapon in his hand to do it with, Sa1 17:50 , but it was revealed to him that he should do it, and he believed it; though the Philistine no doubt looked upon all this as romantic: and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; not only this man's carcass, which should fall and become a prey to fowls and wild beasts, but the carcasses of the Philistine army, which fleeing upon the fall of their champion, and pursued by the Israelites as they were, would be cut off, and become the food of wild creatures, see Sa1 17:52 ; though some think the plural is put for the singular, and that it only means his carcass, who was a Philistine; but the host of the Philistines, carries it to the other sense: and this would be done: that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel; not only the land of Canaan or Palestine, but the whole earth, and all the inhabitants of it, who should hear of the fall of this giant by such means, and of the rout of the Philistine army upon it; the report of which no doubt was spread far, and near.