1After the death of Saul, David came back from defeating the Amalekites. He stayed two days in Ziklag.
2On the third day a man came from Saul's camp. His clothes were torn, and there was earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and bowed low.
3David said to him, "Where have you come from?" He said to him, "I have escaped out of the camp of Israel."
4David said to him, "How did it go? Tell me, please." He answered, "The people have run away from the battle. Many of the people have fallen and are dead. Saul and Jonathan his son are dead too."
5David said to the young man who told him this, "How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?"
6The young man who told him said, "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Look, Saul was leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen were close behind him."
7When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. I answered, 'Here I am.'
8He said to me, 'Who are you?' I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.'
9He said to me again, 'Stand over me, please, and kill me. Agony has taken hold of me, but my life is still whole in me.'
10"So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure he could not live after he had fallen. 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."
11Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.
12They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" He answered, "I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite."
14David said to him, "How is it that you were not afraid to reach out your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?"
15David called one of the young men and said, "Go near and strike him down." So he struck him, and he died.
16David said to him, "Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth has spoken against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed.'"
18(He also told them to teach the children of Judah the use of the bow. Look, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
19"The beauty of Israel is killed on your high places. How the mighty have fallen."
20Do not tell it in Gath, do not announce it in the streets of Askelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will be glad, or the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate.
21You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields that give offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was shamefully thrown away, the shield of Saul, as though he had never been anointed with oil.
22From the blood of the killed, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.
23Saul and Jonathan were loved and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
24You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and other fine things, who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.
25How the mighty have fallen in the middle of the battle. Jonathan, you were killed on your high places.
26I am in pain for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, greater than the love of women.
27"How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished."