A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
2 Samuel 1
2 Samuel 1 is the opening chapter of the tenth book of the Bible. The 27-verse chapter records David's response to the deaths of King Saul and his son Jonathan, who have just been killed in battle against the Philistines.
The chapter opens with David back at Ziklag, two days after his return from a battle of his own. A young Amalekite arrives from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head, signs of mourning. He reports that Saul and Jonathan are dead.
The Amalekite tells a self-serving version of Saul's death. He claims he found Saul wounded and leaning on his spear, that Saul asked him to finish him off, and that he did so. He offers David Saul's crown and armband as proof. The Amalekite expects a reward; David has him executed instead for laying hands on the Lord's anointed.
David and his men then mourn, weep, and fast until evening for Saul, Jonathan, and the people of Israel killed in battle.
The chapter closes with a formal lament David composes, called "the Song of the Bow," which he orders the people of Judah to learn. The lament praises both Saul and Jonathan and contains the famous refrain "How the mighty have fallen." It mourns Jonathan in particular, whose friendship with David is described as more precious than the love of women.
Verse 1. After the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.
Verse 2. On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage.
Verse 3. “Where have you come from?” David asked. “I have escaped from the Israelite camp,” he replied.
Verse 4. “What was the outcome?” David asked. “Please tell me.” “The troops fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”
Verse 5. Then David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
Verse 6. “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him.
Verse 7. When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I answered, ‘Here I am!’
Verse 8. ‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
Verse 9. Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’
Verse 10. So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
Verse 11. Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.
Verse 12. They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
Verse 13. And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner,” he answered. “I am an Amalekite.”
Verse 14. So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
Verse 15. Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died.
Verse 16. For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
Verse 17. Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,
Verse 18. and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:
Verse 19. “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!
Verse 20. Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
Verse 21. O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
Verse 22. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not retreat, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.
Verse 23. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
Verse 24. O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.
Verse 25. How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
Verse 26. I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
Verse 27. How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
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