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2 Samuel 1:4

in 2 Samuel 1

“What was the outcome?” David asked. “Please tell me.” “The troops fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

KJV

And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 1

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

From whence comest thou

on 2 Samuel 1:3-4

David questions the man twice, first where he has come from and then how the battle went, a king who has spent this whole book enquiring of the LORD before every move now forced to enquire of a stranger for word of his own king. The answer comes in the plainest terms Samuel's narrator ever uses for a defeat, the people fled, many are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. Nothing yet distinguishes this report from what chapter 31 has already told the reader firsthand.

This site's exposition

What was the outcome?

David asks for the news with a plea. Matthew Henry reads his eagerness as that of the man in Israel with the most at stake. The troops fled, many fell and died, and the report saves Saul and Jonathan for last.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And David said unto him, how went the matter? I pray thee, tell me,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He therefore asks, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan are dead? in answer to which the young man tells him a very ready story, putting it past doubt that Saul was dead, for he himself had been not only an eye-witness of his death, but an instrument of it, and therefore David might rely upon his testimony.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

a man came out of the camp from Saul--As the narrative of Saul's death, given in the last chapter, is inspired, it must be considered the true account, and the Amalekite's story a fiction of his own, invented to ingratiate himself with David, the presumptive successor to the throne.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

26 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלָ֥יוto him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • דָּוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מֶה־what?

    meh-H4100 →752 times

  • הָיָ֥הwas it

    hayahH1961 →3559 times

  • הַדָּבָ֖רthe word

    hadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • הַגֶּד־tell

    haged-H5046 →370 times

  • נָ֣אplease

    na'H4994 →404 times

  • לִ֑יto <the> me

    li

  • וַ֠יֹּאמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־that

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • נָ֨סit has fled

    nasH5127 →159 times

  • הָעָ֜םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָ֗הthe battle

    hamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • וְגַם־and also

    vegam-H1571 →769 times

  • הַרְבֵּ֞ה[surely] a multitude

    harbehH7235 →227 times

  • נָפַ֤ל<it> has fallen

    nafalH5307 →435 times

  • מִן־of

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הָעָם֙the people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • וַיָּמֻ֔תוּand they have died

    vaiyamutuH4191 →839 times

  • וְגַ֗םand also

    vegamH1571 →769 times

  • שָׁא֛וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • וִיהוֹנָתָ֥ןand Jonathan

    vihonatanH3083 →81 times

  • בְּנ֖וֹson his

    benoH1121 →4930 times

  • מֵֽתוּ׃they have died

    metuH4191 →839 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

2 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 4:16

    “I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 3:6

      Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and…

    • Joshua 7:19

      So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 1 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 2 Samuel 1 →