2 Samuel 1:2-11

2On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head came from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.

3David asked him, “Where have you come from?” He replied to him, “I’ve escaped from the Israelite camp.”

4“What was the outcome? Tell me,” David asked him. “The troops fled from the battle,” he answered. “Many of the troops have fallen and are dead. Also, Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

5David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

6“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear. At that very moment the chariots and the cavalry were closing in on him.

7When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, so I answered: I’m at your service.

8He asked me, ‘Who are you? ’ I told him: I’m an Amalekite.

9Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for I’m mortally wounded, but my life still lingers.’

10So I stood over him and killed him because I knew that after he had fallen he couldn’t survive. I took the crown that was on his head and the armband that was on his arm, and I’ve brought them here to my lord.”

11Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and all the men with him did the same.