The Meaning of 2 Samuel 1:19 Explained

2 Samuel 1:19

KJV: The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

YLT: The Roebuck, O Israel, On thy high places is wounded; How have the mighty fallen!

Darby: The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

ASV: Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen!

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The beauty  of Israel  is slain  upon thy high places:  how are the mighty  fallen! 

What does 2 Samuel 1:19 Mean?

Context Summary

2 Samuel 1:17-27 - The Song Of The Bow
This noble poem is unrivaled. It is a perfect model of a funeral dirge. It is in poetry what Händel's Dead March in Saul is in music. The psalmist is borne along both by art and affection. He could not have composed this song unless he had been a consummate artist, and unless he had drunk deep of that divine love which believes, bears, hopes and endures all things and never fails.
He forgets all that he has suffered. His love refuses to consider anything but what has been pleasant and lovely in his liege lord. And for Jonathan there is a special stanza. A brother soul! The Philistines had felt David's might, but his friend had tasted his sweetness! Terrible as a whirlwind in flight, yet winsome as a woman! But if human love can impute only good to those who are the objects of its affection, what will not God's love say of us, feel toward us and impute to us! Here is a clue to the exceeding riches of the love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins! [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 Samuel 1

1  The Amalekite who accused himself of Saul's death is slain
17  David laments Saul and Jonathan with a song

What do the individual words in 2 Samuel 1:19 mean?

The beauty of Israel on your high places is slain how have fallen the mighty
הַצְּבִי֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַל־ בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָ֑ל אֵ֖יךְ ! נָפְל֥וּ גִבּוֹרִֽים

הַצְּבִי֙  The  beauty 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: צָבָא 
Sense: beauty, glory, honour.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל  of  Israel 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל  
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.
בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ  your  high  places 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine singular
Root: בָּמָה  
Sense: high place, ridge, height, bamah (technical name for cultic platform).
חָלָ֑ל  is  slain 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חָלָל 
Sense: slain, fatally wounded, pierced.
אֵ֖יךְ  how 
Parse: Interjection
Root: אֵיךְ 
Sense: how? interj.
! נָפְל֥וּ  have  fallen 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: נָפַל  
Sense: to fall, lie, be cast down, fail.
גִבּוֹרִֽים  the  mighty 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: גִּבֹּור  
Sense: strong, mighty.