HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN - 2 Samuel 1:17

I’m posting some common phrases examining older English bible translations and highlighting the Authorized Version's contribution to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the KJV

This next selection predicts the defeat of the Packers.


This passage is sometimes called the “Song of the Bow” due to the strange placement of a word meaning ‘bow” in verse 17 that has been supposed by some to be an Aramaic intrusion into the text; it is omitted in the LXX.
See Driver, Samuel Rolles. Notes on the Hebrew Text and Topography of the Books of Samuel. Oxford: Clarendon press, 1913.

And Dauid lamented with this lamentation ouer Saul, and ouer Ionathan his sonne:
(Also hee bade them teach the children of Iudah the vse of the bow: behold, it is written in the booke of Iasher.)

The beauty of Israel is slaine vpon thy high places: how are the mightie fallen!
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streetes of Askelon: lest the daughters of the Philistines reioyce, lest the daughters of the vncircumcised triumph.
Yee mountaines of Gilboa, let there bee no dewe, neither let there be raine vpon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mightie is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though hee had not beene annointed with oile.
From the blood of the slaine, from the fat of the mightie, the bow of Ionathan turned not backe, and the sword of Saul returned not emptie.
Saul and Ionathan were louely and pleasant in their liues, and in their death they were not diuided: they were swifter then Eagles, they were stronger then Lions.
Yee daughters of Israel, weepe ouer Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of golde vpon your apparell.
How are the mightie fallen in the midst of the battell! O Ionathan, thou wast slaine in thine high places.
I am distressed for thee, my brother Ionathan, very pleasant hast thou beene vnto mee: thy loue to mee was wonderfull, passing the loue of women.
How are the mightie fallen, and the weapons of warre perished!
2 Samuel 1:17-27 AV 1611



19 the noble men of Israel ben slayn on thin hillis.
25 Hou `felden doun stronge men in batel?
27 Hou therfor `felden doun stronge men, and armeris of batel perischide?
Wycliffe

19 The Eldest in Israel are slayne vpon the heigth of the. How are the Worthies falle?
25 How are the Worthies fallen so in the battayll? Ionathas is slayne vpon ye heigth of the.
27 How are the Worthies fallen, and ye weapens destroyed?
Coverdale

19 O noble Israel, he is slaine vpon thy hie places: howe are the mightie ouerthrowen?
25 Howe were the mightie slayne in the middest of the battel? O Ionathan thou wast slayne in thyne hye places.
27 O how are the mightie ouerthrowen, and the weapons of warre destroyed?
Bishops

19 O noble Israel, hee is slane vpon thy hie places: how are the mightie ouerthrowen!
25 Howe were the mightie slaine in the mids of the battel! O Ionathan, thou wast slaine in thine hie places.
27 howe are the mightie ouerthrowen, and the weapons of warre destroyed!
Geneva

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: How are the mighty fallen!
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.
How are the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!
2 Samuel 1:19, 25, 27 (AV 1873)

While earlier versions technically translate the words accurately, the KJV was the first to convey the beauty of the Hebrew poetry in English.
Most modern versions have used the same phrase.

Rob