2 Samuel 1:8

Translations

Modern

‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

Traditional

And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

Literal

And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ And I said to him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

Latin

…dixit mihi: Quisnam es tu? Et aio ad eum: Amalecites ego sum.

Original

Hebrew

English

‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

Notes

2 Samuel 1:1–16

An unnamed Amalekite went to David, claiming that he had killed Saul. This claim was false. Saul had taken his own life(1 Samuel 31:4–6).

The Amalekite may have hoped that David would reward him for clearing the way for David to become king. Instead, David ordered him to be killed for harming the Lord’s anointed (the person God had chosen).

2 Samuel 1:1–27

The forty years of Saul’s reign ended in tragedy. The Philistines struck a devastating blow against his people. They killed Saul’s sons and later mutilated Saul’s body after he took his own life (1 Samuel 31). After these tragic events, the story begins to focus on David and his rise as a leader.

Theme notes and profiles

David Jonathan Saul David's Response to Unfriendly Leaders

Related verses

1 Samuel 30:17
And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.
1 Samuel 30:13
Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” “I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill.
1 Samuel 15:3
Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
1 Samuel 30:1
On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
Exodus 17:8–16
After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
Deuteronomy 25:17–19
Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,
Genesis 14:7
Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
Numbers 24:20
Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”
1 Samuel 27:8
Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

Parallels

1 Samuel 31:1–6 1 Chronicles 10:1–6

Places

Amalek: A nomadic people, descendants of Esau, enemies of Israel

Glossary

Baanah David Mount Gilboa Samuel, Books of First and Second

Topics

David: King of Israel: Kills the Murderer of Saul

2 Samuel 1:8

Translations?

Original?

Notes?

Related verses?

Parallels?