efore him. David said to him, "Where do you come from?" He answered, "I
have escaped from the camp of Israel." David said to him, "How did the
battle go? Tell me." He answered, "The people fled from the
battle-field, and many of them fell, and Saul and Jonathan his son are
dead!"

Then David and all the men who were with him tore their clothes and
mourned and wept and went without food until evening, because Saul and
Jonathan his son and the people of Jehovah had fallen by the sword.

David then sang this dirge over Saul and Jonathan:

"Weep, O Judah!
Grieve, O Israel!
On your heights are the slain!
How the mighty have fallen!

"Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!
In life and in death they were never parted;
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.

"O Jonathan, your death has mortally wounded me,
O Jonathan, my brother, for you I am sorrowing.
You were ever a friend to me most dear,
Your love meant far more than the love of women!

"How the mighty have fallen,
And the weapons of war vanished!"

A SHEPHERD BOY WHO WAS CALLED TO LEAD A NATION

After this David asked of Jehovah, "Shall I go up into one of the towns
of Judah?" Jehovah answered, "Go up." When David asked, "To which shall
I go?" he said, "To Hebron." So David went up with his two wives,
Ahinoam and Abigail. And David brought the men who were with him, each
with his family, and they lived in the towns about Hebron. Then the men
of Judah came there and made David ruler over the people of Judah.

When they told David about the men of Jabesh in Gilead who had buried
Saul, David sent messengers to them and said, "May you be blessed by
Jehovah because you have shown this kindness to your master Saul and
have buried him. Even so may Jehovah show kindness and faithfulness to
you. I also will repay you for this kind deed which you have done.
Therefore be brave and courageous; for Saul your master is dead, and the
people of Judah have made me ruler over them."

Now Abner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ishbaal the son of
Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim and made him ruler over Gilead and
all Israel. But the people of Judah remained loyal to David.

There was constant war between the followers of Saul and those of David.
But David kept growing stronger while the followers of Saul grew weaker.