1 And it was done, after that Saul was dead, that David turned again from the slaying of Amalek, and he dwelled two days in Ziklag.

2 And in the third day a man appeared, coming from the tents of Saul with a cloth rent, and his head sprinkled with dust; and as he came to David, he felled upon his face, and worshipped or honoured him.

3 And David said to him, From whence comest thou? And he said to David, I fled from the tents of Israel.

4 And David said to him, What is the word that is done there; show thou to me. And he said, The people of Israel hath fled from the battle, and many of the people felled, and be dead; but also Saul, and Jonathan, his son, have perished.

5 And David said to the young man, that told to him, Whereof knowest thou, that Saul is dead, and Jonathan, his son?

6 And the young man said, that told to him, By hap I came into the hill of Gilboa, and Saul leaned upon his spear; and chariots and horsemen nighed to him;

7 and he turned behind his back, and saw me, and called. To whom when I had answered, I am present;

8 he said to me, Who art thou? And I said to him, I am a man of Amalek.

9 And he spake to me, Stand thou upon me, and slay me; for anguishes hold me, and yet all my life is in me.

10 And I stood upon him, and I slew him; for I knew that he might not live after the falling; and I took the diadem, that was on his head, and the bie from his arm, and I have brought them hither to thee, my lord.

11 Forsooth David took and rent his clothes, and [all] the men that were with him;

12 and they wailed, and wept, and fasted till to eventide, on Saul, and Jonathan, his son, and on the people of the Lord, and on the house of Israel, for they had felled by sword.

13 And David said to the young man, that told to him, Of whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a man comeling, of a man of Amalek.

14 And David said to him, Why dreadest thou not to send thine hand, that thou shouldest slay the christ of the Lord?

15 And David called one of his children or young men, and said, Go thou, and fall on him. And he smote that young man, and he was dead.

16 And David said to him, Thy blood be on thine head; for thy mouth spake against thee, and said, I killed the christ or the anointed of the Lord.

17 Forsooth David bewailed such a wailing on Saul, and on Jonathan, his son;

18 and he commanded, that they should teach the sons of Judah the bow, that is, the craft of shooting, as it is written in the Book of Just Men.

19 And David said, Israel, behold thou, for these that be dead, be wounded on thine high places; the noble men of Israel be slain upon thine hills. How have fallen [the] strong men?

20 do not ye tell this in Gath, neither tell ye in the way-lots of Askelon; lest peradventure the daughters of Philis-tines be glad, lest the daughters of uncircumcised men joy.

21 Hills of Gilboa, neither dew, neither rain come upon you, neither be they the fields of first fruits; for the shield of strong men was cast away there, the shield of Saul, as if he had not been anointed with oil.

22 Of the blood of slain men, of the fatness of strong men, the arrow of Jonathan went never aback, and the sword of Saul turned not again void.

23 Saul and Jonathan, amiable, and fair in their life, were not parted also in their death; they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

24 Daughters of Israel, weep ye on Saul, that clothed you with fine red, and in other delights, that gave golden ornaments to your attire.

25 How have strong men fallen down in battle? Jonathan was slain in the high places.

26 I make sorrow upon thee, my brother Jonathan, full fair and amiable more than the love of women; as a mother loveth her only son, so I loved thee.

27 How therefore felled down strong men, and arms of battle perished?