The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Second Book of Kings
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Chapter 1
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Saul was already dead when David came back from routing Amelec, and spent two days in Siceleg;
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then, on the third day, a man from Saul’s army came in view, his garments torn, his head covered with dust, who, upon sight of David, bowed down to earth and did reverence.
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Whence comest thou? David asked, and on learning that he had made his way there from the Israelite army,
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Tell me, how went the day? We were routed, said he, in the battle, and many of the common folk fell slain; worse yet, Saul and his son Jonathan are among the dead.
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What proof hast thou, David asked the messenger, that Saul and Jonathan were slain?
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I chanced, said he, to reach mount Gelboe, and there I found Saul, leaning on his spear. Chariots and horsemen were in close pursuit,
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and he turned to look behind him; saw, and hailed me, and learned I was ready at his command;
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asked who I was, and learned that I was an Amalecite.
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Then he said, Stand close, and give me my death-blow; the toils are closing round me, and I am a whole man yet.
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So I stood close, and dealt the blow, knowing well that there could be no life for him after his fall; then I took the crown from his head and the bracelet from his arm, and here I bring them to my lord.
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At that, David rent his garments, and so did all the men who were with him;
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mourned they and wept, and fasted till evening came, for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord’s people, men of Israel’s race, that lay fallen in battle.

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And now David asked the messenger, Whence is it thou camest? My father, he answered, was an alien, a man of Amalec.
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And wast thou not afraid, said David, to lay hands on the king the Lord had anointed, and slay him?
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Then he bade one of his men go up and make an end of the Amalecite, and when the blow had fallen, said over his dead body,
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Thou hast brought death on thy own head, by owning thyself the murderer of an anointed king.

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This is the lament David made over Saul and his son Jonathan,
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and would have this lament of his, The Bow, taught to the sons of Juda; the words of it are to be found in the Book of the Upright. Remember, Israel, the dead, wounded on thy heights,
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the flower of Israel, cut down on thy mountains; how fell they, warriors such as these?
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Keep the secret in Geth, never a word in the streets of Ascalon; shall the women-folk rejoice, shall they triumph, daughters of the Philistine, the uncircumcised?
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Mountains of Gelboe, never dew, never rain fall upon you, never from your lands be offering made of first-fruits; there the warrior’s shield lies dishonoured, the shield of Saul, bright with oil no more.
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Where the blood of slain men, the flesh of warriors beckoned, never the bow of Jonathan hung back, never the sword of Saul went empty from the feast.
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Saul and Jonathan, so well beloved, so beautiful; death no more than life could part them; never was eagle so swift, never was lion so strong.
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Lament, daughters of Israel, lament for Saul, the man who dressed you bravely in scarlet, who decked your apparel out with trinkets of gold.
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How fell they, warriors such as these, in the battle? On thy heights, Gelboe, Jonathan lies slain.
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Shall I not mourn for thee, Jonathan my brother, so beautiful, so well beloved, beyond all love of women? Never woman loved her only son, as I thee.
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How fell such warriors, what could blunt such swords as these?