掃羅之死

10 非利士人與以色列人交戰,以色列人敗逃,許多人在基利波山被殺。 非利士人窮追掃羅及其眾子,殺了掃羅的兒子約拿單、亞比拿達和麥基舒亞。 掃羅周圍的戰鬥非常猛烈,他被弓箭手發現、射成重傷, 就對為他拿兵器的人說:「拔出你的刀來刺死我吧!免得那些未受割禮的人來凌辱我。」但拿兵器的人非常害怕,不敢動手,掃羅就自己伏刀自盡。 拿兵器的人看見掃羅已死,也伏刀自盡了。 這樣,掃羅和他的三個兒子及全家都死了。 住在山谷中的以色列人看見以色列軍敗逃、掃羅及其眾子已死,都棄城而逃。於是,非利士人佔領了那些城邑。 次日,非利士人來剝陣亡者的衣物,發現掃羅及其眾子橫屍基利波山, 就剝下掃羅的盔甲,割下他的頭顱,並派人到非利士四境向他們的偶像和民眾通告消息。 10 他們將掃羅的盔甲放在他們的神廟裡,把他的頭顱掛在大袞神廟中。 11 基列·雅比人聽見非利士人對掃羅的所作所為, 12 他們所有的勇士就去把掃羅和他兒子們的屍體運到雅比,葬在雅比的橡樹下,並禁食七天。 13 掃羅死了,因為他對耶和華不忠,不聽從祂的教誨,甚至去求問靈媒, 14 而不求問耶和華。因此,耶和華使他被殺,把王位交給了耶西的兒子大衛。

The Death of Saul and His Sons(A)

10 The Philistines were fighting against Israel, and each[a] soldier[b] of Israel fled before the Philistines. They fell slain on the mountain of Gilboa. The Philistines followed after Saul and after his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. The heaviest fighting was against Saul,[c] and when the archers who were shooting located Saul, he was gravely wounded by them.[d]

Saul ordered his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and abuse me.”

But his armor bearer did not want to do it[e] because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his[f] sword and died. Therefore Saul, his three sons, and all his entire household died together. When that part of the army[g] of Israel that was in the valley saw that the rest of the[h] army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and occupied them.

The Philistines Desecrate Saul’s Body(B)

The Philistines came to strip the dead the next day, and they found Saul dead on Gilboa mountain, along with his sons. They stripped him, took his head and armor, and sent messengers throughout the territory of the Philistines to report the news to their idols and to the people. 10 Then they put Saul’s[i] armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull to the wall of[j] the temple of Dagon.

The People of Jabesh-gilead Give Saul a Proper Burial(C)

11 When all the residents of[k] Jabesh-gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 every valiant soldier[l] got up, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons, took them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk[m] tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted for seven days. 13 So Saul died for his transgressions; that is, he acted unfaithfully to the Lord by transgressing the message from the Lord (which he did not keep), by consulting a medium for advice, 14 and by not seeking counsel[n] from the Lord, who therefore put him to death and turned the kingdom over to Jesse’s son David.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 10:1 The Heb. lacks each
  2. 1 Chronicles 10:1 Lit. a man
  3. 1 Chronicles 10:3 Lit. was heavy toward
  4. 1 Chronicles 10:3 Lit. the archers
  5. 1 Chronicles 10:4 The Heb. lacks to do it
  6. 1 Chronicles 10:5 The Heb. lacks his
  7. 1 Chronicles 10:7 Lit. man
  8. 1 Chronicles 10:7 The Heb. lacks rest of the
  9. 1 Chronicles 10:10 Lit. his
  10. 1 Chronicles 10:10 The Heb. lacks to the wall of
  11. 1 Chronicles 10:11 The Heb. lacks the residents of
  12. 1 Chronicles 10:12 Lit. man
  13. 1 Chronicles 10:12 Or great
  14. 1 Chronicles 10:14 The Heb. verb to seek counsel sounds like the name Saul