1 Chronicles 10
Expanded Bible
The Death of King Saul(A)
10 The Philistines ·fought against [attacked] Israel, and the Israelites ran away from them. Many Israelites ·were killed [were slaughtered; L fell dead] on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines ·fought hard against [hotly pursued; closed in on] Saul and his sons, killing his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting was ·heavy [fierce] around Saul, and the archers ·shot him with their arrows [L found him] and wounded him.
4 Then Saul said to ·the officer who carried his armor [his armor bearer], “·Pull out [Draw; Take] your sword and ·stab me [run me through]. If you don’t, these Philistines who are not circumcised will come and ·hurt [abuse] me.” But Saul’s ·officer [armor bearer] refused, because he was ·afraid [terrified]. So Saul took his own sword and ·threw himself [fell] on it. 5 When the officer saw that Saul was dead, he ·threw himself [fell] on his own sword and died. 6 So Saul and three of his sons died; all his ·family [L house] died together.
7 When the Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had ·run away [fled] and that Saul and his sons were dead, they ·left [abandoned] their towns and ·ran away [fled]. Then the Philistines came and ·settled in [occupied] them.
8 The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead soldiers, they found Saul and his sons ·dead [fallen] on Mount Gilboa. 9 The Philistines stripped Saul’s body and took his head and his armor. Then they sent messengers through ·all their country [the land of the Philistines] to tell the good news to their idols and to their people. 10 The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the ·temple [L house] of their ·idols [L gods] and hung his head in the ·temple [L house] of Dagon.
11 All the people in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 So the ·brave [valiant] men of Jabesh went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak tree in Jabesh [C evidently a major landmark]. Then the people of Jabesh fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord and ·did not obey [L acted unfaithfully against the word of] the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for ·advice [counsel] 14 instead of asking the Lord. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and ·gave [turned over] the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.
1 Chronicles 10
The Message
10 1-5 The Philistines went to war against Israel; the Israelites ran for their lives from the Philistines but fell, slaughtered on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines zeroed in on Saul and his sons and killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. The battle went hard against Saul—the archers found him and wounded him. Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and finish me off before these pagan pigs get to me and make a sport of my body.” But his armor bearer, restrained by both reverence and fear, wouldn’t do it. So Saul took his own sword and killed himself. The armor bearer, panicked because Saul was dead, then killed himself.
6-7 So Saul and his three sons—all four the same day—died. When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and ran off; the Philistines came and moved in.
8-10 The next day the Philistines came to plunder the dead bodies and found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. They stripped Saul, removed his head and his armor, and put them on exhibit throughout Philistia, reporting the victory news to their idols and the people. Then they put Saul’s armor on display in the temple of their gods and placed his skull as a trophy in the temple of their god Dagon.
11-12 The people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. All of their fighting men went into action—retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh, gave them a dignified burial under the oak at Jabesh, and mourned their deaths for seven days.
13-14 Saul died in disobedience, disobedient to God. He didn’t obey God’s words. Instead of praying, he went to a witch to seek guidance. Because he didn’t go to God for help, God took his life and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.
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