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Pentecost Season · Proper 8 · Year B

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

David's Lament for Saul and Jonathan

June 27, 2027

David's Farewell to Jonathan (David and Jonathan), Rembrandt van Rijn
David's Farewell to Jonathan (David and Jonathan), Rembrandt van Rijn, 1642Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Two men embrace, one weeping into the other's shoulder, with a city on a hill behind. Painted the year Rembrandt's wife died.I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me. The reading is David's lament, and this is the parting it remembers.Rembrandt van RijnRembrandt (1606-1669) painted scripture as if it had happened in a room he had been in, and returned to the same stories across forty years, changing his mind about them in public.Hermitage Museum, St. PetersburgCatherine the Great's collection in the Winter Palace, grown into one of the largest museums on earth.Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMark 5:21-43Mk 5:21-43
Epistle2 Cor. 8:7-152 Cor 8:7-15
Old Testament2 Sam. 1:1, 17-272 Sm 1:1, 17-27Alt. OTWis. 1:13-15, 2:23-24Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24 orLam. 3:22-33Lam 3:22-33
PsalterPs. 130Ps 130Alt. PsalmPs. 30Ps 30

Overview & Insights

"How the mighty have fallen!" (2 Samuel 1:27)

Hearing of Saul and Jonathan's deaths, David composes the Song of the Bow, a poetic elegy mourning Israel's fallen king and his beloved friend rather than gloating over a rival's fall.

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Take it further: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Commentary

Working Preacher: Commentary on 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27Working Preacher: Commentary on 2 Sm 1:1, 17-27 Working Preacher

Lutheran lectionary commentary on David's elegy for the complementary track.

Enduring Word: 2 Samuel 1Enduring Word: 2 Sm 1 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes on the whole chapter.

Precept Austin: 2 Samuel 1 CommentaryPrecept Austin: 2 Sm 1 Commentary Precept Austin

Detailed study gathering many commentators on the Song of the Bow.

BibleHub: Commentaries on 2 Samuel 1:1BibleHub: Commentaries on 2 Sm 1:1 BibleHub

Parallel classic commentaries keyed to the chapter's opening verse.

CEP: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 CommentaryCEP: 2 Sm 1:1, 17-27 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on David's lament and grief as laid-down power.

Background & Word Study

BibleProject: 2 Samuel OverviewBibleProject: 2 Sm Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the story and themes of 2 Samuel.

Sefaria: II Samuel 1 (Hebrew) Sefaria

Hebrew text with English and classical Jewish commentary on the elegy.

BibleHub: 2 Samuel 1 InterlinearBibleHub: 2 Sm 1 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew-English interlinear for word-level study of the chapter.

The Church Fathers

Catena: 2 Samuel 1Catena: 2 Sm 1 Catena

Patristic comments gathered verse by verse on 2 Samuel 1.

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