1 Chronicles 10
International Children’s Bible
The Death of King Saul
10 The Philistine people fought against the people of Israel. The Israelites ran away from them. And many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines continued chasing Saul and his sons. And they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting became heavy around Saul. The archers shot him with their arrows and wounded him.
4 Then Saul said to the officer who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and kill me. If you don’t, these men who are not circumcised will come and hurt me.” But the officer was afraid. So he refused to kill Saul. Then Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 The officer saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died. 6 So Saul and three of his sons died. All his family died together.
7 The Israelites living in the valley saw that their army had run away. And they saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and lived in those towns.
8 The next day the Philistines came to take valuable things from the dead bodies. On Mount Gilboa they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. 9 The Philistines stripped Saul’s body. And they took his head and his armor. They sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their idols and their people. 10 The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the temple of their idols. And they hung his head in the temple of Dagon.
11 All the people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 So all the brave men from Jabesh Gilead went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them to Jabesh Gilead. Then they buried the bones of Saul and his sons under the large tree in Jabesh. And they gave up eating for seven days.
13 Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord. He did not obey the Lord. He even went to a medium and asked her for advice. 14 He did this instead of asking the Lord for help. This is why the Lord put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.
1 Chronicles 10
Lexham English Bible
The Death of Saul and His Sons
10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and every Israelite fled away from before the Philistines. And they fell slain upon Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines overtook[a] Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua, the sons of Saul. 3 And the battle was heavy against Saul, and the archers[b] found him, and he was wounded by the archers.[c] 4 And Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and deal harshly with me.” But he was very afraid. Then Saul took the sword and fell upon it. 5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon the sword, and he died. 6 So Saul died. And his three sons and all his house died together. 7 And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they[d] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and dwelled in them. 8 And it happened that on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 And they stripped him and took his head and his weapons, and they sent them throughout the land of the Philistines to bring news to their idols and the nation. 10 And they put his weapons in the temple of their gods, and they fastened his skull to the temple of Dagon. 11 When all Jabesh-Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 every strong man arose and took the dead body of Saul and the dead bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek guidance. 14 But he did not seek Yahweh. So Yahweh put him to death and turned over the kingship to David, the son of Jesse.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 10:2 Literally “caught up behind”
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 Literally “shooters with the bow”
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 Literally “shooters”
- 1 Chronicles 10:7 That is, the army
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