1 Chronicles 10:1-11:9

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Death of Saul and His Sons

10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, sons of Saul. ³ The battle pressed hard on Saul; and the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come and make sport of me.’ But his armour-bearer was unwilling, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. ⁶ Thus Saul died; he and his three sons and all his house died together. ⁷ When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army^[a] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled; and the Philistines came and occupied them.

⁸ The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped him and took his head and his armour, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his armour in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ But when all Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant warriors got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

¹³ So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord; moreover, he had consulted a medium, seeking guidance, ¹⁴ and did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord^[b] put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

David Anointed King of All Israel

11 Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, ‘See, we are your bone and flesh. ² For some time now, even while Saul was king, it was you who commanded the army of Israel. The Lord your God said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over my people Israel.’ ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.

Jerusalem Captured

⁴ David and all Israel marched to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. ⁵ The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, ‘You will not come in here.’ Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, now the city of David. ⁶ David had said, ‘Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander.’ And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief. ⁷ David resided in the stronghold; therefore it was called the city of David. ⁸ He built the city all round, from the Millo in a complete circuit; and Joab repaired the rest of the city. ⁹ And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him.