2 Samuel 1:8

8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “ ‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.

2 Samuel 1:8 in Other Translations

8 And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

8 And he said to me, 'Who are you?' I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.'

8 “He responded, ‘Who are you?’ “‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him.

8 He asked me who I was, and I told him, 'I'm an Amalekite.'"

8 He asked me, 'Who are you?' I told him: I'm an Amalekite.

2 Samuel 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 1:8

And he said unto me, who [art] thou?
&c.] Being willing to know whether a friend or an enemy, which by his coming behind him he could not tell:

and I answered him, I [am] an Amalekite:
which he might be; but it is not likely he should tell Saul he was, which would not recommend him to him; though indeed he was now in such circumstances, that the Amalekites had nothing to fear from him; and if he was slain by him, as Josephus ^F6 affirms he was, it seems to be a just retaliation on him for sparing any of that race, contrary to the will of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14. sect. 7.

2 Samuel 1:8 In-Context

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.”

Cross References

• 1. ver 13; S 1 Samuel 15:2; S 1 Samuel 27:8; 1 Samuel 30:13,17