1 Samuel 31:1-10

Expanded Bible

The Death of Saul^(A)

31 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the ·Israelites [^Lmen of Israel] ·ran away from [fled before] them. Many Israelites ·were killed [^Lfell slain] on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines ·fought hard against [overtook; closed in/bore down on] Saul and his sons, killing his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. ³ The fighting was ·heavy [fierce] around Saul. The archers ·shot [^Lfound] him, and he was ·badly [severely; critically] wounded. ⁴ He said to ·the officer who carried his armor [his armor bearer], “·Pull out [Draw] your sword and ·kill me [run me through]. Then those ·uncircumcised men [pagans] won’t ·make fun of [taunt; abuse] me and ·kill me [run me through].” But Saul’s ·officer [armor bearer] refused, because he was ·afraid [terrified]. So Saul took his own sword and ·threw himself [^Lfell] on it. ⁵ When ·the officer [his armor bearer] saw that Saul was dead, he ·threw himself [^Lfell] on his own sword, and he died with Saul. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, ·and the officer who carried his armor [his armor bearer] and all his men died together that day.

⁷ When the Israelites who lived across the Jezreel Valley and those who lived across the Jordan River saw how the Israelite army had ·run away [fled], and that Saul and his sons were dead, they ·left [abandoned] their cities and ran away. Then the Philistines came and ·lived there [occupied them].

⁸ The next day when the Philistines came to ·take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers [^Lstrip the dead/corpses], they found Saul and his three sons ·dead [fallen; lying] on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off Saul’s head and ·took [stripped] off his armor. Then they sent messengers through all the land of the Philistines to tell the [^Lgood] news in the ·temple [^Lhouses] of their idols and to their people. ¹⁰ They put Saul’s armor in the ·temple [^Lhouse] of the Ashtoreths [or Astarte; ^Ca pagan deity] and ·hung [fastened] his body on the wall of Beth Shan.