King James Version2 Samuel1

2 Samuel

1 Now it came to pass af­ter the death of Saul, when David was re­turned from the slaugh­ter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Zik­lag; 2 It came even to pass on the third day, that, be­hold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obei­sance. 3 And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Is­rael am I es­caped. 4 And David said unto him, How went the mat­ter? I pray thee, tell me. And he an­swered, That the peo­ple are fled from the bat­tle, and many of the peo­ple also are fall­en and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead al­so. 5 And David said unto the young man that told him, How know­est thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? 6 And the young man that told him said, As I hap­pened by chance upon mount Gilboa, be­hold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the char­i­ots and horse­men fol­lowed hard af­ter him. 7 And when he looked be­hind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I an­swered, Here am I. 8 And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I an­swered him, I am an Amalekite. 9 He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for an­guish is come upon me, be­cause my life is yet whole in me. 10 So I stood upon him, and slew him, be­cause I was sure that he could not live af­ter that he was fall­en: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hith­er unto my lord. 11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and like­wise all the men that were with him: 12 And they mourned, and wept, and fast­ed un­til even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the peo­ple of the LORD, and for the house of Is­rael; be­cause they were fall­en by the sword. 13 And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he an­swered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite. 14 And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to de­stroy the LORD'S anoint­ed? 15 And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. 16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath tes­ti­fied against thee, say­ing, I have slain the LORD'S anoint­ed. 17 And David lament­ed with this lamen­ta­tion over Saul and over Jonathan his son: 18 (Al­so he bade them teach the chil­dren of Ju­dah the use of the bow: be­hold, it is writ­ten in the book of Jash­er.) 19 The beau­ty of Is­rael is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fall­en! 20 Tell it not in Gath, pub­lish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daugh­ters of the Philistines re­joice, lest the daugh­ters of the un­cir­cum­cised tri­umph. 21 Ye moun­tains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, nei­ther let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of of­fer­ings: for there the shield of the mighty is vile­ly cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anoint­ed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul re­turned not emp­ty. 23 Saul and Jonathan were love­ly and pleas­ant in their lives, and in their death they were not di­vid­ed: they were swifter than ea­gles, they were stronger than li­ons. 24 Ye daugh­ters of Is­rael, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scar­let, with other de­lights, who put on or­na­ments of gold upon your ap­par­el. 25 How are the mighty fall­en in the midst of the bat­tle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 26 I am dis­tressed for thee, my broth­er Jonathan: very pleas­ant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was won­der­ful, pass­ing the love of wom­en. 27 How are the mighty fall­en, and the weapons of war per­ished!