2nd Samuel Chapter 1 verse 17 Holy Bible
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
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Then David made this song of grief for Saul and Jonathan, his son:
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And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son;
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And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
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And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son:
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David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son
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And David lamenteth with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 17. - David lamented with this lamentation. The Hebrew word for "lamentation" is kinah, a technical term for an elegy or poem commemorative of the dead. Thus Jeremiah wrote a kinah in memory of King Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25); and there is little doubt that the "lamentations" there spoken of were a collection of dirges, in which probably this ode written by David held an honoured place. In 2 Samuel 3:33, 34 we have a short kinah in Abner's honour, which possibly formed part of a longer poem, of which those two verses only are quoted as sufficing to prove, not only David's innocence, but also his indignation at Joab's foul deed. In both these places we have remains of David's secular poetry, and find it marked by the same strong emotion and the same sublimity of thought as distinguish his psalms. We observe also the nobleness of David's nature in his total silence concerning himself, and his generous eulogy, not of Jonathan only, but also of Saul. The mean envy and the implacable jealousy of the latter are no more remembered, and he sees in him, not the personal foe, but the brave king who has fallen in his country's cause.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(17) Lamented with this lamentation.--This is the technical expression for a funeral dirge or elegy, such as David also composed on the death of Abner (2Samuel 3:33-34), and Jeremiah on the death of Josiah (2Chronicles 35:25). It is the only instance preserved to us (except the few lines on the death of Abner) of David's secular poetry. "It is one of the finest odes of the Old Testament, full of lofty sentiment, and springing from deep and sanctified emotion, in which, without the slightest allusion to his own relation to the fallen king, David celebrates without envy the bravery and virtues of Saul and his son Jonathan, and bitterly laments their loss." (Keil.)
