Report of Saul’s Death.1After the death of Saul, David returned from his victory over the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.a2On the third day a man came from the field of battle, one of Saul’s people, with his garments torn and his head covered with dirt. Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.3David asked him, “Where have you come from?” He replied, “From the Israelite camp: I have escaped.”4“What happened?” David said. “Tell me.” He answered that the soldiers had fled the battle and many of them had fallen and were dead; and that Saul and his son Jonathan were dead.5Then David said to the youth who was reporting to him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”6b The youth reporting to him replied: “I happened to find myself on Mount Gilboa and saw Saul leaning on his spear, with chariots and horsemen closing in on him.7He turned around and saw me, and called me to him. When I said, ‘Here I am,’8he asked me, ‘Who are you?’ and I replied, ‘An Amalekite.’9Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me, please, and put me to death, for I am in great suffering, but still alive.’10So I stood over him and put him to death, for I knew that he could not survive his wound. I removed the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm and brought them here to my lord.”

11David seized his garments and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.c12They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of theLord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.d13David said to the youth who had reported to him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.”14David said to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to put forth your hand to desecrate theLord’s anointed?”e15David then called one of the attendants and said to him, “Come, strike him down”; so he struck him and he died.16David said to him, “Your blood is on your head, for you testified against yourself when you said, ‘I put theLord’s anointed to death.’ ”

Lament for Saul and Jonathan.17Then David chanted this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan18(he commanded that it be taught to the Judahites; it is recorded in the Book of Jashar):f