2 Kings 1:26
I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan: exceeding beautiful, and amiable to me above the love of women. As the mother loveth her only son, so did I love thee.
Open 2 Kings 1:26 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Doleo super te, frater mi Jonatha, decore nimis, et amabilis super amorem mulierum. Sicut mater unicum amat filium suum, ita ego te diligebam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀλγῶ ἐπὶ σοί, ἀδελφέ μου Ἰωναθάν· ὡραιώθης μοι σφόδρα. ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ ἀγάπησίς σου ἐμοὶ ὑπὲρ ἀγάπησιν γυναικῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- צַר לִ֣י עָלֶ֗יךָ אָחִי֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן נָעַ֥מְתָּ לִּ֖י מְאֹ֑ד נִפְלְאַ֤תָה אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ לִ֔י מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת נָשִֽׁים
Haydock's commentary
Brother. So they lamented, Alas! my brother, Jeremias xxii. 18. (Menochius)
Women. He indicates the ardour of his love, not any inordinate affection. (Du Hamel)
I love thee more than any person can love a woman, (Calmet) more than women can love their husbands or children. (Menochius)
Chaldean "thy love is more wonderful to me than the love of two who are espoused."
As, &c. This is not found in Hebrew, Septuagint, or St. Jerome. (Calmet)
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 John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Ephesians 5:22-24
A certain wise man, setting down a number of things in the rank of blessings, set down this also in the rank of a blessing, “A wife agreeing with her husband.” ( Ecclus. xxv. 1 .) And elsewhere again he sets it down among blessings, that a woman should dwell in harmony with her husband. ( Ecclus. xl. 23 .) And indeed from the beginning, God appears to have made special provision for this union; and discoursing of the twain as one, He said thus, “Male and female created He them” ( Gen. i. 27 .); and again, “There is neither male nor female.” ( Gal. iii. 28 .) For there is no relationship between man and man so close as that between man and wife, if they be joined together as they should be. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 2 Timothy 3:1-7
I will now cite you from the Scriptures a wonderful instance of friendship. Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David, and his soul was so knit to him, that David in mourning over him says, “Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. Thou wast wounded unto death.” ( 2 Sam. i. 25, 26 .) What then? did he envy David? Not at all, though he had great reason. How? Because, by the events he perceived that the kingdom would pass from himself to him, yet he felt nothing of the kind. He did not say, “This is he that is depriving me of my paternal kingdom,” but he favored his obtaining the sovereignty; and he spared not his father for the sake of his friend. Yet let not any one think him a parricide, for he did not injure his father, but restrained his unjust attempts. He rather spared than injured him. He did not permit him to proceed to an unjust murder. …
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. …