2 Samuel 1:1-16 - The Report Of Saul's Death By The Amalekite

¹ {After} the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and he stayed at Ziklag two days. ² On the third day, a man came from the camp from [being with] Saul, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. {When he came} to David, he fell to the ground and bowed down. ³ David said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I have escaped from the camp of Israel."

⁴ Then David said to him, "{How did things go}? Please tell me." He answered, "{When} the army fled from the battle, and many of the people fell; also, Saul and Jonathan his son died."

⁵ Then David asked the young man who [was] reporting to him, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan died?"

⁶ The young man who [was] reporting to him said, "I merely happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Here Saul [was] leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen [were] getting close to him. ⁷ When he turned around and saw me, he called to me, and I said, 'Here I [am].' ⁸ Then he said to me, 'Who [are] you?' And I said to him, 'I [am] an Amalekite.' ⁹ He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me, for convulsions have seized me, even though my life [is still] in me.' ¹⁰ So I stood over him and killed him, for I knew that he could not live after his falling; I took the crown that [was] on his head and [the] bracelet which [was] on his arm; and here, I have brought them to my lord.

¹¹ David grabbed [at] his clothes and tore them, [as did] all of the men who [were] with him. ¹² Then they mourned and wept and fasted over Saul and Jonathan his son until the evening, [as well] as over the people of Yahweh and over the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword.

¹³ Then David said to the young man who [was] reporting to him, "Where [are] you from?" And he said, "I [am] the son of an alien man. I [am] an Amalekite."

¹⁴ David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?" ¹⁵ Then David called to one of the young men and said to him, "Come near; strike him." So he struck him down and he died. ¹⁶ David said to him, "Your blood [is] on your head, for your mouth has testified against you by saying, 'I killed Yahweh's anointed one!'"