How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
Parallel Translations
-
How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
-
How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
-
How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 1:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 1:25 How the mighty have fallen in the middle of the battle! Jonathan was slain on your high places.
- 2 Samuel 1:19 “Your glory, Israel, was slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!
- 2 Kings 2:12 Elisha saw it, and he cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” He saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces.
- Psalms 46:9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
- Ezekiel 39:9-10 “ ‘ “Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 13:14 Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 1:27 How are the mighty fallen, and the…
2Sa 1:27 How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
Ver. 27. How are the mighty fallen!] See 2Sa 1:19.
Read full note →
And the weapons of war perished!] Yea, together with Saul and Jonathan, all the warlike glory of Israel is gone.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain 1. Metaphorically so called, to wit, Saul and Jonathan,…
Either,
1. Metaphorically so called, to wit, Saul and Jonathan, and the brave commanders and soldiers of Israel; who might have been called the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. Or rather,
Read full note →
2. Properly; for, together with the men, their arms were lost, which was a very great aggravation of their loss, and that loss seems to be at this time more irrecoverable and dangerous than the loss of their men.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How are the mighty fallen,.... This is the burden…
How are the mighty fallen,.... This is the burden of this elegiac song, being the third time it is mentioned:
and the weapons of war perished! not only the valiant soldiers were killed, but their arms were lost; and particularly he may mean Saul and Jonathan, who as they were the shields of the people, so they were the true weapons and instruments of war, and with them all military glory perished; which must be understood as a poetical figure, exaggerating their military characters; otherwise David, and many mighty men with him, remained, and who revived and increased the military glory of Israel, as the following history shows.
Read full note →
Next: 2 Samuel Chapter 2
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Perished, falling into the hands of the enemy; though…
Perished, falling into the hands of the enemy; though Saul and Jonathan may be styled the arms, as well as the shield, of Israel. (Menochius) --- No character could be more worthy of praise than the latter. His breast was never agitated by envy, though he seemed to be the most interested to destroy David. Even Saul had many excellent qualities; which makes Ven. Bede compare him in those respects with Jesus Christ; as most of the memorable persons and events of the Old Testament had a view to Christ on the one hand, and to the Synagogue on the other. Saul is one of the most striking figures of the reprobation and conduct of the Jewish church. As he was adorned with many glorious prerogatives, and chosen by God, yet he no sooner beheld the rising merit of David, than he began to persecute him: so the Jews had been instructed by the prophets, and had been selected as God’s peculiar inheritance; and nevertheless took occasion from the virtues and miracles of the Son of God, to conspire his ruin. The Romans were sent to punish the Jews, who are now become the most abject of all mankind, and are filled with rage, seeing the exaltation of the Christian Church, as Saul was reduced by the Philistines to the greatest distress, and his children were forced to implore the protection of the man whom he had so cruelly persecuted, &c. (Calmet) --- Saul and Judas may be a warning to us, that no person ought to live without fear, since they perished so miserably, though they had been elevated by the hand of God. (St. Ambrose, &c.) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. Implements of war — The shields and other…
27. Implements of war — The shields and other implements that were vilely cast away. 2Sa_1:21. Some understand here, not the weapons of war but the heroes, considered figuratively as the instruments by whom the war was carried on, and Isa_13:5, is referred to as a parallel. But though persons are sometimes in this sense termed instruments, we nowhere find them called instruments of war; and as this elegy makes mention of military weapons as cast away with abhorrence, we feel obliged to adhere to the most obvious signification of the word.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 27. How are the mighty fallen] This thrice-repeated refrain…
27. How are the mighty fallen] This thrice-repeated refrain sounds the keynote of the elegy. Cp. Psa_42:5; Psa_42:11; Psa_43:5; Psa_107:8; Psa_107:15; Psa_107:21; Psa_107:31.
the weapons of war] Metaphorically, of Saul and Jonathan as the instruments of battle for the nation. Cp. Isa_13:5, Act_9:15 (σκεῦος as in the LXX. here). To understand it literally of swords and spears would close the most pathetic of elegies with an incredible bathos.
Read full note →
Dean Stanley observes that “Over the portal of the sepulchral chapel of the most famous of mediaeval heroes—the tomb of the Cid near Burgos—we find inscribed the words of David “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished,” “Quomodo ceciderunt robusti, et perierunt arma bellica” (Lect. II. 31).
It is needless to dwell on the poetic beauty, the chivalrous loyalty, the tender love, which characterize this most pathetic of funeral odes.
“Saul had fallen with all his sins upon his head, fallen in the bitterness of despair, and as it might have seemed to mortal eye, under the shadow of the curse of God. But not only is there in David’s lament no revengeful feeling at the death of his persecutor.… but he dwells with unmixed love on the brighter recollections of the departed. He speaks only of the Saul of earlier times, the mighty conqueror, the delight of his people, the father of his beloved and faithful friend; like him in life, united with him in death. Such expressions … may fairly be taken as justifying the irrepressible instinct of humanity which compels us to dwell on the best qualities of those who have just departed.” Stanley, Lect. II. 30. See too a noble passage to the same effect in Maurice’s Prophets and Kings, Serm. II., p. 32.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain How are the mighty fallen! This lament, which occurs…
How are the mighty fallen! This lament, which occurs three times, is the central thought of the elegy. Glorious and noble in their pest lives, the heroes had now fallen, not as Wolfe fell at Quebec, with the shout of victory in his ears, but in the lost battle. And David seeks relief for his distress in dwelling upon the sad contrast between the splendid victories which Saul had won for Israel when first chosen to be king, and the terrible defeat by which life and kingdom had now been lost.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.