The Death of Saul and His Sons

(1 Samuel 31:1-7)

1The Philistines were fighting against Israel, and eacha soldierb of Israel fled before the Philistines. They fell slain on the mountain of Gilboa. 2The Philistines followed after Saul and after his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. 3The heaviest fighting was against Saul,c and when the archers who were shooting located Saul, he was gravely wounded by them.d

4Saul ordered his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and abuse me.”

But his armor bearer did not want to do ite because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on hisf sword and died. 6Therefore Saul, his three sons, and all his entire household died together. 7When that part of the armyg of Israel that was in the valley saw that the rest of theh army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and occupied them.

The Philistines Desecrate Saul’s Body

(1 Samuel 31:8-10)

8The Philistines came to strip the dead the next day, and they found Saul dead on Gilboa mountain, along with his sons. 9They stripped him, took his head and armor, and sent messengers throughout the territory of the Philistines to report the news to their idols and to the people. 10Then they put Saul’si armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the wall ofj the temple of Dagon.

The People of Jabesh-gilead Give Saul a Proper Burial

(1 Samuel 31:11-13)

11When all the residents ofk Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12every valiant soldierl got up, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons, took them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamariskm tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted for seven days. 13So Saul died for his transgressions; that is, he acted unfaithfully to the LORD by transgressing the message from the LORD (which he did not keep), by consulting a medium for advice, 14and by not seeking counseln from the LORD, who therefore put him to death and turned the kingdom over to Jesse’s son David.