| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. | 1Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. |
| 2The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. | 2The Philistines stayed right on the heels of Saul and his sons. They struck down Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. |
| 3The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. | 3Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; the archers spotted him and wounded him severely. |
| 4Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me." But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. | 4Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me." But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. |
| 5When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. | 5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. |
| 6So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day. | 6So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day. |
| 7When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them. | 7When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them. |
| 8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. | 8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. |
| 9They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. | 9They cut off Saul's head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines. |
| 10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. | 10They placed Saul's armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his corpse on the city wall of Beth Shan. |
| 11When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, | 11When the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, |
| 12all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. | 12all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul's corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. |
| 13Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. | 13They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days. |
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