Bible Strands
2 Samuel 1:24
O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses the daughters of Israel immediately after describing the swift deaths of Saul and Jonathan, framing his public lament over their fallen leadership.
The words — בְּנוֹת (be.nOt) translates literally as “daughters,” and שָנִי (sha.Ni) means “scarlet,” directly identifying the royal attire Saul supplied to the nation.
The thread — The appeal to the daughters of Israel parallels Judges 5:30 and Isaiah 3:16, where dyed or scarred garments mark both royal spoils and the pride of Zion’s women.
Why it lands — The text commands mourning for a king who provided national wealth, requiring readers to acknowledge the material benefits of earthly authority before confronting its abrupt end.
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 daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
Cross-references
- Judges 5:30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’
- Isaiah 3:16 The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
- Jeremiah 2:32 Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
- 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
- 1 Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
- Psalms 68:12 “Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.
- Proverbs 31:21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for they are all clothed in scarlet.