Passage

2 Samuel 1.18

Book: 2 Samuel · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"16. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain Jehovah's anointed. 17. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son"

"18. (and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):"

"19. Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen! 20. Tell it not in Gath, Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." (2 Samuel 1:16-20, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"16. David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’” 17. David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son"

"18. (and he commanded them to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):"

"19. “Your glory, Israel, was slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen! 20. Don’t tell it in Gath. Don’t publish it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." (2 Samuel 1:16-20, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"16. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD'S anointed. 17. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:"

"18. (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) ^{of Jasher: or, of the upright}"

"19. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 20. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." (2 Samuel 1:16-20, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"16. and David saith unto him, 'Thy blood [is] on thine own head, for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I, I put to death the anointed of Jehovah.' 17. And David lamenteth with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son;"

"18. and he saith to teach the sons of Judah 'The Bow;' lo, it is written on the book of the Upright: --"

"19. 'The Roebuck, O Israel, On thy high places [is] wounded; How have the mighty fallen! 20. Declare [it] not in Gath, Proclaim not the tidings in the streets of Ashkelon, Lest they rejoice, The daughters of the Philistines, Lest they exult, The daughters of the Uncircumcised!" (2 Samuel 1:16-20, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

I Threw EVERY Religious Argument At GodLogic (Lecrae 2026)

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.