David composes an elegy in honor of Israel’s fallen leaders (1:17–27). Known as the “lament of the bow,” it may have been sung by Israel’s warriors while they practiced their technique with the bow and arrow in the hope of avoiding defeat in battle. According to verse 18, this lament was also included in the Book of Jashar, a collection of battle accounts that appears to have been used as a source for biblical texts (cf. Josh. 10:12–13).

The lament begins and ends with the line, “How the mighty have fallen!” as David eulogizes Saul and Jonatha…