2 Samuel 1:1-16

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 1

The Report of Saul’s Death. ¹ Shortly after the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites, and he stayed for two days in Ziklag. ² On the third day a man appeared from Saul’s camp, with his clothes in tatters and dirt on his head. Upon coming into David’s presence, he fell to the ground and paid him homage.

³ David asked him: “Where have you come from?” And he replied: “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” ⁴ David then inquired: “What has happened there? Tell me!” The man answered: “The soldiers fled from the battle, but many of them fell and died. Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”

⁵ David then asked the young man who had brought the news: “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ⁶ The young man replied: “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and I beheld Saul leaning on his spear as the chariots and the horsemen were closing in on him. ⁷ When he happened to turn around and saw me, he summoned me to him. I said: ‘Here I am.’ ⁸ Saul then said to me: ‘Who are you?’ And I told him: ‘I am an Amalekite.’ ⁹ Then he gave me this order: ‘Come here, stand over me, and kill me. The throes of death have overcome me, yet I am still alive.’

¹⁰ “Therefore, I stood over him and slew him, for I knew that he could not possibly survive because of the wounds he had suffered. Then I removed the crown that was on his head and the armlet from his arm, and I have brought them here to you, my lord.”

^11 [a]Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and the men who were with him did the same. ¹² They mourned and wept, and they fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, as well as for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

¹³ David then said to the young man who had brought him the report: “Where do you come from?” He answered: “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.” ¹⁴ David thereupon asked him: “How was it that you were not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”

¹⁵ Then David summoned one of his young soldiers and gave him this order: “Come here and strike him down!” The young man struck him down, and he died. ¹⁶ As he fell, David said to him: “Your blood be on your own head. You convicted yourself by your own testimony when you said: ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’ ”