Bible Strands
2 Samuel 1:21
O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David addresses the mountains of Gilboa immediately after reporting the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, following his command to suppress the news in Philistine territory.
The words — אַל־ (al-) = may not and טַל (tal) = dew anchor a curse that withholds agricultural fertility, directly tying the land's barrenness to the battlefield's outcome.
The thread — The location recalls the battle site in 1 Samuel 31:1, while the defiled shield and absent oil connect to the royal anointing in 1 Samuel 10:1 and the military preparation in Isaiah 21:5.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the loss of royal protection coincides with the withdrawal of divine provision, framing the defeat as a concrete judgment rather than a mere military setback.
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
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 31:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
- Isaiah 21:5 They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
- 1 Samuel 10:1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance?
- Judges 5:23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’
- 1 Chronicles 10:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
- 1 Chronicles 10:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
- Job 3:3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is conceived.’
- Isaiah 5:6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
- Jeremiah 20:14 Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Ezekiel 31:15 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.