2 Samuel 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: MT 1:19
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
2 Samuel 1
Mourning the anointed in the history leading to Christ
Editorial Christian canonical frame: Acts 13:20–23 carries the history from Saul and David to Jesus [NT1]. David’s lament honors the dead within that history.
1:1–10 | The Amalekite’s account
Verse MT 1:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:1
After Saul’s death, David returned from striking Amalek. David stayed in Ziklag for two days.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:1
After Saul died, David returned from striking Amalek. David stayed in Ziklag for two days.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The opening links Saul’s death with David’s return and the two-day stay. The singular people-name Amalek is retained collectively.
Verse MT 1:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:2
On the third day, look, a man came from the camp, from Saul, with his clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and bowed down.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:2
On the third day, look, a man came from the camp, from Saul’s people, with his garments torn and earth on his head. When he came in to David, he fell to the ground and bowed down to him.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek explicitly identifies Saul’s people and the recipient of the bow. The arrival, mourning signs, and gesture otherwise agree.
Verse MT 1:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:3
David said to him, “Where have you come from?” He said to him, “I have escaped from Israel’s camp.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:3
David said to him, “Where have you come from?” He said to him, “I have come safely away from Israel’s camp.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both give the question and the man’s claim to have escaped. The Greek verb emphasizes coming through safely without changing the reported event.
Verse MT 1:4 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:4
David said to him, “What happened? Please tell me.” He said, “The people fled from the battle, and many of the people fell and died. Saul and Jonathan his son also died.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:4
David said to him, “What is this report? Tell me.” He said, “The people fled from the war, and many of the people have fallen and died. Saul also died, and Jonathan his son died.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew asks what happened; Greek asks about the report. Greek separately repeats died for Saul and Jonathan. Both present the news as the messenger’s speech.
Verse MT 1:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:5
David said to the young man reporting to him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son have died?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:5
David said to the young man reporting to him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son have died?”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The question, persons, and reported deaths agree. The age designation does not itself establish legal servitude.
Verse MT 1:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:6
The young man reporting to him said, “I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa. Look, Saul was leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen were overtaking him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:6
The young man reporting to him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Look, Saul was leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and cavalry commanders had closed in on him.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek hipparchoi names cavalry commanders; Hebrew’s difficult masters of the horsemen expression is rendered contextually as horsemen. The claimed chance encounter and leaning on the spear agree.
Verse MT 1:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:7
He turned behind him and saw me. He called to me, and I said, ‘Here I am.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:7
He looked behind him and saw me. He called me, and I said, ‘Here I am.’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The look, recognition, summons, and reply correspond. These remain details in the young man’s account.
Verse MT 1:8 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:8
He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I said to him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:8
He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Hebrew follows the checked qere I said against the written he said [Q1]. With that reading, the exchange agrees with Greek.
Verse MT 1:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:9
He said to me, ‘Please stand over me and put me to death, for agony has seized me, though my life is still wholly in me.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:9
He said to me, ‘Stand over me now and put me to death, for terrible darkness has seized me, for my whole soul is in me.’
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew’s rare shabats is provisionally agony; its precise sense remains disputed. Greek explicitly gives terrible darkness. The life / soul clauses retain their different expressions without a modern diagnosis.
Verse MT 1:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:10
I stood over him and put him to death, for I knew he would not live after he had fallen. I took the crown on his head and the armlet on his arm, and brought them here to my lord.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:10
I stood over him and put him to death, for I knew he would not live after he had fallen. I took the royal crown on his head and the armlet on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The claimed killing and removal of the royal ornaments agree. This speech is not rewritten as the narrator’s account of Saul falling on his own sword in 1 Samuel 31, nor is a verdict on the messenger’s truthfulness inserted.
1:11–16 | Mourning and the messenger’s sentence
Verse MT 1:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:11
David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men with him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:11
David took hold of his garments and tore them, and all the men with him tore their garments.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Greek spells out the men’s action and garments; Hebrew uses a corresponding abbreviated clause. The mourning action is the same.
Verse MT 1:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:12
They mourned, wept, and fasted until evening for Saul, for Jonathan his son, for YHWH’s people, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:12
They mourned, wept, and fasted until evening for Saul, for Jonathan his son, for Judah’s people, and for the house of Israel, because they had been struck by the sword.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names YHWH’s people; Greek names Judah’s people. Both retain the house of Israel and the same mourning practices. Fallen and struck differ in description.
Verse MT 1:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:13
David said to the young man reporting to him, “Where are you from?” He said, “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:13
David said to the young man reporting to him, “Where are you from?” He said, “I am the son of an Amalekite resident alien.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both identify the man through an Amalekite father’s resident-alien status. The compressed Hebrew sequence allows the ethnic description to be heard with the father or the speaker; the family identification corresponds.
Verse MT 1:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:14
David said to him, “How were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy YHWH’s anointed?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:14
David said to him, “How were you not afraid to bring your hand against the Lord’s anointed to destroy him?”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The accusation concerns killing the anointed king. Lord / YHWH and the ordinary hand idiom do not create a substantive difference; no later Christian identity is substituted for Saul.
Verse MT 1:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:15
David called one of the young men and said, “Come near and strike him.” He struck him, and he died.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:15
David called one of his young men and said, “Come near and strike him.” He struck him, and he died.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Greek explicitly identifies the young men as David’s. The command, attack, and death agree. Strike renders the encounter verb in this expressly violent setting.
Verse MT 1:16 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:16
David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your mouth testified against you, saying, ‘I put YHWH’s anointed to death.’”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:16
David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your mouth answered against you, saying, ‘I put the Lord’s anointed to death.’”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Hebrew follows the checked singular qere your blood against the written plural [Q1]. Both ground David’s verdict in the man’s own admission. The speech remains after the execution in the narrated sequence.
Love and grief before the fallen mighty
Editorial Christian reading: the lament gives grief a public voice. It remains David’s poem, without making every image a prediction of Christ.
1:17–21 | The Bow and the mountains of Gilboa
Verse MT 1:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:17
David lamented this lament over Saul and over Jonathan his son.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:17
David lamented this lament over Saul and over Jonathan his son,
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The introduction identifies the same lament and its subjects. Greek continues its syntax into verse 18.
Verse MT 1:18 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:18
He said to teach the sons of Judah the Bow. Look, it is written in the Book of the Upright.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:18
and he said to teach the sons of Judah—look, it is written in the Book of the Upright—
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Hebrew includes the Bow, absent in this Greek text. It is treated provisionally as the lament’s title, with bow instruction an alternative construal. Both cite the same named book; no lost text is reconstructed.
Verse MT 1:19 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:19
“Israel’s splendor lies slain upon your heights!
How the mighty have fallen!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:19
“Set up a memorial, Israel, for the dead, slain upon your heights!
How the mighty have fallen!
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: Hebrew’s splendor image, with gazelle as a lexical alternative, differs from Greek’s command stēlōson, set up a memorial. Greek expressly names the dead; its traumatiai are rendered slain in this death lament [D11]. The opening action and image remain materially different; the compressed Greek construction remains difficult.
Verse MT 1:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:20
Do not tell it in Gath;
do not announce it in Ashkelon’s streets, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:20
Do not report it in Gath, and do not proclaim good news in Ashkelon’s exits, lest the daughters of the foreigners rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew gives streets; Greek gives exits or ways out. Greek foreigners denotes the Philistines in context. Its good-news verb is rendered concretely in the enemies’ anticipated celebration, not as a Christian Gospel announcement.
Verse MT 1:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:21
Mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew and no rain upon you, nor fields of offerings!
For there the shield of the mighty was cast aside, Saul’s shield, without being anointed with oil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:21
Mountains in Gilboa, let no dew descend and no rain upon you, nor fields of firstfruits!
For there the shield of the mighty was treated with contempt;
Saul’s shield was not anointed with oil.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The field clauses are elliptical and difficult. Hebrew names offerings; Greek firstfruits. The shield’s rejection / contempt corresponds broadly, while the Greek separately states its lack of oil. No curse against a modern place is supplied beyond the poem’s words.
1:22–27 | Saul, Jonathan, and the repeated lament
Verse MT 1:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:22
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan’s bow did not turn back, and Saul’s sword did not return empty.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:22
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan’s bow did not turn back empty, and Saul’s sword did not return empty.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek repeats empty for both weapons, while Hebrew gives it only for the sword. Both refer to the blood of the slain in this lament; Greek traumatiai does not require survivors here [D11]. The martial images remain explicit.
Verse MT 1:23 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:23
Saul and Jonathan, loved and delightful in their lives, were not separated in their death.
They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:23
Saul and Jonathan, loved and beautiful, not separated, splendid in their life and not separated in their death: swifter than eagles, they proved stronger than lions.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds an earlier not separated and an additional description, splendid. Both compare the men with eagles and lions and affirm their union in death. The praise belongs to David’s lament, without erasing the preceding conflicts.
Verse MT 1:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:24
Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with delights, who put gold ornaments upon your garments.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:24
Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with your adornment, who put gold adornment upon your clothing.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew delights and Greek your adornment differ. Greek repeats its ornament word; both preserve scarlet and gold as the remembered royal gifts.
Verse MT 1:25 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:25
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle!
Jonathan lies slain upon your heights.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:25
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of war!
Jonathan lies slain upon your heights.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The refrain, battle, heights, and Jonathan’s death agree. Greek traumatias is rendered slain in this context, as in verses 19 and 22 [D11].
Verse MT 1:26 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:26
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan.
You were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful, beyond the love of women.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:26
I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan.
You were very beautiful to me.
Your love for me was wondrous, beyond the love of women.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both preserve David’s intense personal grief and the comparison with women’s love. Hebrew’s dear or delightful description and Greek’s beautiful description have different shades of praise. The verse states love without naming a sexual act or a later identity category.
Verse MT 1:27 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 1:27
How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 1:27
How the mighty have fallen, and the equipment of war has perished!”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The final refrain and martial equipment image correspond. Weapons is contextual for Hebrew implements of war; neither source names another person in this closing line.