2 Kings 1:22
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the valiant, the arrow of Jonathan never turned back, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- A sanguine interfectorum, ab adipe fortium, sagitta Jonathæ numquam rediit retrorsum, et gladius Saul non est reversus inanis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀφ᾽ αἵματος τραυματιῶν, ἀπὸ στέατος δυνατῶν, τόξον Ἰωναθὰν οὐκ ἀπεστράφη κενὸν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, καὶ ῥομφαία Σαοὺλ οὐκ ἀνέκαμψεν κενή.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- מִדַּ֣ם חֲלָלִ֗ים מֵחֵ֨לֶב֙ גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים קֶ֚שֶׁת יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן לֹ֥א נָשׂ֖וֹג אָח֑וֹר וְחֶ֣רֶב שָׁא֔וּל לֹ֥א תָשׁ֖וּב רֵיקָֽם
Haydock's commentary
From. Hebrew, "without the blood of soldiers, without the fat of the valiant, the bow of Jonathan had never returned." (Kennicott)
Fat. The entrails. It might also denote the most valiant of the soldiers, as we read of "the fat or marrow of corn" for the best, Psalm lxxx. 17. (Calmet)
Jonathan attacked the most courageous, and laid them dead at his feet. (Haydock)
Empty. Saul carried destruction wherever he went.
Et nos tela, pater, ferrumque haud debile dextra,
Spargimus & nostro sequitur de vulnere sanguis. (Virgil, Æneid xii. 50.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter IX. Cheating and dishonest ways of making money are utterly unfit for clerics whose duty is to serve all. They ought never to be involved in a money affair, unless it is one affecting a man's life. For them the example of David is given, that they should injure none, even when provoked; also the death of Naboth, to keep them from preferring life to virtue
61. But that he spared him was a small matter; he also grieved for him when slain in war, and mourned for him with tears, saying: “Ye mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall upon you; ye mountains of death, for there the shield of the mighty is cast away, the shield of Saul. It is not anointed with oil, but with the blood of the wounded and the fat of the warriors. The bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and very dear, inseparable in life, and in death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with your ornaments, who put on gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan was wounded even to death. …