Elegy

How Nave’s arranged it

• David's, on Saul and Jonathan2 Samuel 1:172 Samuel 1:19–27
• On Abner2 Samuel 3:332 Samuel 3:34
• See the Book of LamentationsLamentations 1
• See [1491]POETRY
• See Rhetoric

The passages, in Bible order (5)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 5 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. 2 Samuel 1:17

   Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:171 voice

   “The words lamented and lamentation must be understood in the technical sense of a funeral dirge or mournful elegy. (See similar dirges in 2Sa 3:33-34; and 2Ch 35:25.) This and the brief stanza on the death of Abner are the only specimens preserved to us of David’s secular poetry.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 1:17→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. 2 Samuel 1:19–27

   “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:19–272 voices

   “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places--literally, "the gazelle" or "antelope of Israel." In Eastern countries, that animal is the chosen type of beauty and symmetrical elegance of form. how are the mighty fallen!--This forms the chorus.

   “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places,.... The high mountains of Gilboa, where Saul their king, and Jonathan his son, a prince of the blood, and natural heir to the crown, and multitudes of young men, the flower of the nation, were wounded and slain. Here begins the lamentation, or the elegiac song: how are the mighty fallen! mighty men of war, strong and valiant, as Saul and his sons were, and the soldiers in his army.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 1:19–27→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. 2 Samuel 3:33

   And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 3:332 voices

   “Was he cut off by the hand of justice for his crimes? Nothing less; but by Joab's malice and treachery. It is a sad thing to die as a fool dieth, as they do that any way shorten their own days: and indeed all they that make no provision for another world.

   “Lamented - i. e. composed and sang the funeral dirge which follows (compare 2Sa 1:17). Died Abner ... - i. e. The great and noble and valiant Abner had died as ignobly and as helplessly as the meanest churl!

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 3:33→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. 2 Samuel 3:34

   Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. As a man falls before the wicked, so also you fell.” And all the people wept over him even more.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 3:341 voice

   “Thy hands were not bound ... - This thought prepares the way for the solution; Abner had been treacherously murdered by wicked men.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 3:34→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Lamentations 1:1

   How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

   ›Commentary on Lamentations 1:12 voices

   “As for Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, who can fully understand or adequately explain them? The first of them seems to compose not a prophecy but a gospel. The second speaks of a rod of an almond tree and of a seething pot with its face toward the north, and of a leopard that has changed its spots. He also goes four times through the alphabet in different meters.

   “In these two verses is the same sad image as appears in the well-known medal of Titus, struck to celebrate his triumph over Jerusalem. A woman sits weeping beneath a palm-tree, and below is the legend “Judaea capta.” Translate Lam 1:1: How sitteth solitary the city that was full of people: She is become as a widow that was great among the nations: A princess among provinces she is become a vassal. Tributary - In the sense of personal labor Jos 16:10.

   Everything gathered on Lamentations 1:1→

   Verse page →Original language →