‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
- KJV And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.
- NKJV And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
- NASB Then he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ And I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
- NLT “He responded, ‘Who are you?’ “‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The messenger identifies himself to the dying Saul as an Amalekite. This detail proves fatal, since Amalek was Israel's cursed enemy.
Overview
That the man is an Amalekite is deeply significant: Amalek was under God's judgment, and Saul had earlier forfeited his kingdom by sparing Amalekites against the Lord's command. There is a sobering irony that an Amalekite now claims to have finished off the king who spared their forefathers. The detail seals the man's guilt in David's eyes and in the larger story of God's justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Sam 30:17And 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 Sam 30:13Then 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 Sam 15:3Now 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 Sam 30:1On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
- Num 24:20Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”
- Gen 14:7Then 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.
- 1 Sam 27:8Now 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.)
- Deut 25:17–19Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,
- Exod 17:8–16After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 1:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.