2 Samuel 1:4
And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.
The fugitive who reached David announced that Israel's forces had fled the battle and that many of the people had fallen and died, naming Saul and his son Jonathan among the dead. The tidings of such defeat and widespread death account for the grief and mourning that followed upon hearing them. That report of Saul's death in battle provides the setting for David's further inquiry into the messenger's claim to have killed Saul himself.