2 Samuel
Chapter 1
1 After Saul died and David came back from defeating the Amalekites, David stayed in Ziklag for two days.
2 On the third day, a man left Saul’s camp with torn clothes and dirt on his head. When he reached David, he fell to the ground to show respect.
3 David asked him, “Where did you come from?” He replied, “I escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 David asked him, “What happened? Please tell me.” He replied, “The soldiers ran away from the fight, many are dead or dying; and Saul with his son Jonathan are both dead too.”
5 David asked the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?”
6 The young man who told me said, “I was at Mount Gilboa by chance, and there was Saul leaning on his spear; the chariots and riders were close behind him.”
7 When he looked back, he saw me and called to me. I answered, “I’m here.”
8 He asked me, “Who are you?” And I replied, “I am an Amalekite.”
9 He said to me again, “Please stand on me and kill me, because I’m in great pain and still alive.”
10 I stood over him and killed him because I knew he couldn’t survive after he fell. I took the crown from his head and the bracelet from his arm, and I brought them here to my lord.
11 Then David grabbed his clothes and tore them; and all the men with him did the same.
12 They were sad, cried, and didn’t eat until evening for Saul, for his son Jonathan, for God’s people, and for Israel, because they had died in battle.
13 David asked the man who brought him news, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite.”
14 And David asked him, “Weren’t you scared to raise your hand to kill God’s chosen one?”
15 David called a young man and said, “Go close and attack him.” So he struck him, and he died.
16 David said to him, “You are responsible for your own death; your own words have condemned you, saying, ‘I killed God’s chosen one.’”
17 David mourned for Saul and his son Jonathan with this sad song:
18 He also told them to teach the children of Judah how to use the bow; see, it is written in the book of Jasher.
19 Israel’s beauty is killed on your hills: how the strong have fallen!
20 Don’t talk about it in Gath, don’t announce it in Askelon’s streets; so the Philistine girls won’t be happy, so the girls of those not circumcised won’t celebrate.
21 Mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, or fields for harvests, because there the strong’s shield was thrown away without care, Saul’s shield, as if he was never anointed with oil.
22 Jonathan’s bow did not turn away from the blood of the dead, and the strong ones’ fat, and Saul’s sword did not come back without success.
23 Saul and Jonathan were kind and nice while they lived, and even in death, they stayed together. They were faster than eagles and stronger than lions.
24 Women of Israel, cry for Saul, who dressed you in red with beautiful things, who added gold jewelry to your clothes.
25 The strong have fallen in battle! Oh Jonathan, you were killed on the heights.
26 I am sad for you, my brother Jonathan: you were very kind to me: your love for me was amazing, more than the love of women.
27 The strong have fallen, and the tools of battle are gone!