Bible Strands
2 Samuel 1:19
“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David addresses the sons of Judah, ordering them to learn the Song of the Bow immediately following the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. The words — חָלָל (cha.Lal) = [is] slain and גִבּוֹרִים (gi.bo.Rim) = [the] mighty [ones] mark the sudden termination of military power. The thread — The lament resurfaces in 2 Samuel 1:27 as a closing dirge, applies to Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1:25, and contrasts with Deuteronomy 4:7 which emphasizes divine nearness over human strength. Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of national vulnerability and orders silence to prevent enemy celebration, grounding the response in concrete historical consequence rather than abstract comfort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 1:27 How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
- Deuteronomy 4:7 For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?
- 2 Samuel 1:25 How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
- Lamentations 5:16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
- 1 Samuel 31:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
- 2 Samuel 1:23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Lamentations 2:1 How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.
- Zechariah 11:7 So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.
- Zechariah 11:10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.