2 Samuel 1:19

19 “A gazelle^[a] lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen!

2 Samuel 1:19 in Other Translations

19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

19 "Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!

19 Your pride and joy, O Israel, lies dead on the hills! Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen!

19 Oh, oh, Gazelles of Israel, struck down on your hills, the mighty warriors - fallen, fallen!

19 Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen!

19 "Your glory, Israel, lies dead on your hills. See how the mighty have fallen!

19 The splendor of Israel lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

19 "Israel, your glorious leaders lie dead on your hills. Your mighty men have fallen.

2 Samuel 1:19 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:19

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places
The high mountains of Gilboa, where Saul their king, and Jonathan his son, a prince of the blood, and natural heir to the crown, and multitudes of young men, the flower of the nation, were wounded and slain. Here begins the lamentation, or the elegiac song:

how are the mighty fallen!
mighty men of war, strong and valiant, as Saul and his sons were, and the soldiers in his army.

2 Samuel 1:19 In-Context

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 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.For there the shield of the mighty was despised, the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 23:8; Psalms 29:1; Psalms 45:3
• 2. ver 27; 2 Samuel 3:38

Footnotes

• [a]. "Gazelle" here symbolizes a human dignitary.