The Death of Saul

10 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines and fell mortally wounded at Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines were closing in on Saul and his sons. They struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua, the sons of Saul. ³ The attack directed at Saul was fierce. The archers targeted him and hit him, and he was in great pain from his wounds.

⁴ Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through so that these uncircumcised fellows do not come and abuse me.”

His armor bearer would not do it because he was too afraid. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When the armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. ⁶ So Saul died, and his three sons, his entire house, died together.

⁷ When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that their army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ On the next day when the Philistines came to strip those who had been killed in the battle, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped Saul, carried off his head and his armor, and sent them throughout Philistia to spread the good news to their idols and people. ¹⁰ They put Saul’s armor and weapons in the temple of their gods and impaled his skull in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹ The entire city of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything that the Philistines had done to Saul. ¹² So all the courageous, strong men set out and carried away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons. They brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the terebinth^[a] tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted for seven days.

¹³ Saul died as a result of the unfaithfulness which he had commited against the Lord by not keeping the Lord’s command and by seeking a medium to direct his actions. ¹⁴ He did not seek guidance from the Lord. That is why the Lord brought about his death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.