Saul Killed by the Philistines 1The Philistines fought against Israel, and the armya of Israel fled before the Philistines. They fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons. The Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. 3The heaviest fighting was directed toward Saul,b and when the bowmen who were shooting located Saul, he was severely wounded by them.c 4Saul told his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and run me through and make sport of me.” But his armor bearer did not want to do itd 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 his sword and died with him. 6As a result, Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day. 7When the men of Israel who were across the valley and who were across the Jordan saw that the armye of Israel had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled, and the Philistines came and occupied them. The Philistines Desecrate Saul’s Body 8The next day, the Philistines came to strip the dead, and they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9They cut off his head and stripped him of his weapons. They sent people throughout the territory of the Philistines to report the good news in the temples of their idols and to the people. 10They put Saul’sf weapons in the temple of Asherahg and fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth-shan. The People of Jabesh-gilead Give Saul a Proper Burial 11When the residents of Jabesh-gilead heard whath the Philistines had done to Saul, 12every valiant soldieri got up, traveled all night, and removed Saul’s body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. Then they went to Jabesh and cremated the bodiesj there. 13They took their bones, buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days. Footnotes: a 31:1 Lit. and the men b 31:3 Lit. was heavy toward c 31:3 Lit. the archers d 31:4 The Heb. lacks to do it e 31:7 Lit. men f 31:10 Lit. his g 31:10 Asherah was a female deity worshipped by the Canaanites and the Philistines h 31:11 Lit. heard about it, what i 31:12 Lit. man j 31:12 Lit. them The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Bible Hub |
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