“Mortals,
born of woman,
are of few days and full of trouble. 2 They spring up like flowers and wither away;
like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. 3 Do you fix your eye on them?
Will you bring them[a] before you
for judgment? 4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one! 5 A person’s days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed. 6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
7 “At
least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant. 10 But a man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more. 11 As the water of a lake dries up
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, 12 so he lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, people will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
13 “If
only you would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me! 14 If someone dies, will they live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal[b] to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made. 16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin. 17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.
18 “But
as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place, 19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy a person’s hope. 20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;
you change their countenance and send them away. 21 If their children are honored, they do not know it;
if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. 22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.”
After
the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed
in Ziklag two days. 2 On the third day a man arrived from
Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David,
he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
3 “Where
have you come from?” David asked him.
He
answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 “What
happened?” David asked. “Tell me.”
“The
men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul
and his son Jonathan are dead.”
5 Then
David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that
Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 “I
happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul,
leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When
he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’
8 “He
asked me, ‘Who are you?’
“‘An
Amalekite,’ I answered.
9 “Then
he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but
I’m still alive.’
10 “So
I stood beside 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 on
his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
11 Then
David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They
mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for
the army of the Lord and for the
nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David
said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”
“I
am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.
14 David
asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
15 Then
David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him
down, and he died. 16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be
on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed
the Lord’s anointed.’”
17 David
took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and
he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is
written in the Book of Jashar):
19 “A
gazelle[a] lies slain
on your heights, Israel.
How the mighty have fallen!
20 “Tell
it not in Gath,
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.
21 “Mountains
of Gilboa,
may you have neither dew nor rain,
may no showers fall on your terraced fields.[b]
For there the shield of the mighty was despised,
the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.
22 “From
the blood of the slain,
from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied. 23 Saul and Jonathan—
in life they were loved and admired,
and in death they were not parted.
They were swifter than eagles,
they were stronger than lions.
24 “Daughters
of Israel,
weep for Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and finery,
who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.
25 “How
the mighty have fallen in battle!
Jonathan lies slain on your heights. 26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
you were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
more wonderful than that of women.
27 “How
the mighty have fallen!
The weapons of war have perished!”
