1-2. Shortly after Saul died, David returned to Ziklag from his rout of the Amalekites. Three days later a man showed up unannounced from Saul’s army camp.
2-3. Disheveled and obviously in mourning, he fell to his knees in respect before David. David asked, “What brings you here?”He answered, “I’ve just escaped from the camp of Israel.”
4. “So what happened?” said David. “What’s the news?”He said, “The Israelites have fled the battlefield, leaving a lot of their dead comrades behind. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
11-12. In lament, David ripped his clothes to ribbons. All the men with him did the same. They wept and fasted the rest of the day, grieving the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, and also the army of God and the nation Israel, victims in a failed battle.
14-15. “Do you mean to say,” said David, “that you weren’t afraid to up and kill God’s anointed king?” Right then he ordered one of his soldiers, “Strike him dead!” The soldier struck him, and he died.
17-18. Then David sang this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, and gave orders that everyone in Judah learn it by heart. Yes, it’s even inscribed in The Book of Jashar.
19-21. Oh, oh, Gazelles of Israel, struck down on your hills,the mighty warriors—fallen, fallen!Don’t announce it in the city of Gath,don’t post the news in the streets of Ashkelon.Don’t give those coarse Philistine girlsone more excuse for a drunken party!No more dew or rain for you, hills of Gilboa,and not a drop from springs and wells,For there the warriors’ shields were dragged through the mud,Saul’s shield left there to rot.
24-25. Women of Israel, weep for Saul.He dressed you in finest cottons and silks,spared no expense in making you elegant.The mighty warriors—fallen, fallenin the middle of the fight!Jonathan—struck down on your hills!