2 Samuel · 27 verses
2 Samuel 1
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
David hears that Saul and Jonathan are dead, and an Amalekite arrives bearing Saul’s crown, his armband, and a story that proves fatal.
A crown, an armband, and a dangerous testimonyvv. 1–16
David is in Ziklag when the messenger arrives from Saul’s camp, dressed in torn clothes and dust. He reports the defeat, then says that on Mount Gilboa he found Saul leaning on his spear, begged to be killed, and was killed by him. The crown and armband are produced as evidence; David and his men tear their clothes, mourn, weep, and fast. Then David asks the question which makes the whole business considerably less promising for its bearer: why was he not afraid to destroy the LORD’s anointed? The Amalekite’s own mouth supplies the verdict.
The Song of the Bowvv. 17–27
David turns from judgment to lament and orders Judah’s sons to learn the Song of the Bow, said to be written in the Book of Jashar. Israel’s glory lies slain on its heights; Gath and Ashkelon are told not to hear the news. The mountains of Gilboa are addressed as though dew, rain, and harvest might properly be withheld because Saul’s shield was defiled there—a stern weather forecast, and an unusually personal one. Saul and Jonathan are remembered together in life and death, while David’s grief for Jonathan becomes the song’s most intimate note: his love was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. The lament ends with the mighty fallen and the weapons of war gone.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Sam 1:1After the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.
2 Sam 1:2On 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.
2 Sam 1:3“Where have you come from?” David asked. “I have escaped from the Israelite camp,” he replied.
2 Sam 1:4“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.”
2 Sam 1:5Then David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
2 Sam 1:6“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.
2 Sam 1:7When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I answered, ‘Here I am!’
2 Sam 1:8‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
2 Sam 1:9Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’
2 Sam 1:10So 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.”
2 Sam 1:11Then David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and all the men who were with him did the same.
2 Sam 1:12They 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.
2 Sam 1:13And 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.”
2 Sam 1:14So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
2 Sam 1:15Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died.
2 Sam 1:16For 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.’”
2 Sam 1:17Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,
2 Sam 1:18and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:
2 Sam 1:19“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!
2 Sam 1:20Tell 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.
2 Sam 1:21O 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.
2 Sam 1:22From 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.
2 Sam 1:23Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
2 Sam 1:24O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.
2 Sam 1:25How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
2 Sam 1:26I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
2 Sam 1:27How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 190 passages were voted onto 25 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 41 Samuel 4:16“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.
- 41 Samuel 31:1–6Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
- 141 Samuel 26:9But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?”
- 41 Chronicles 10:1–6Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
- 16Matthew 27:25All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
- 272 Samuel 1:25How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
- 21 Samuel 4:12That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
- 10Judges 9:54He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.
- 10Matthew 7:2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
- 18Joshua 10:13So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? “So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”
- 192 Samuel 1:27How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
- 23Jeremiah 4:13Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
- 261 Samuel 20:17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
- 272 Samuel 1:19“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!
- 112 Samuel 13:31Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground. And all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
- 14Psalms 105:15“Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!”
Onward