1 Chronicles 10
New English Translation
Saul’s Death
10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels of[a] Saul and his sons. They[b] struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 3 The battle was thick[c] around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him.[d] 4 Saul told his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me.”[e] But his armor-bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household[f] died together. 7 When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army[g] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped his corpse, and then carried off his head and his armor. They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news to their idols and their people. 10 They placed his armor in the temple of their gods[h] and hung his head in the temple of Dagon. 11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons[i] and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains[j] under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.
13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.[k] 14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord[l] killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 10:2 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:2 tn Heb “the Philistines.” The translation has substituted the pronoun “they” to avoid redundancy.
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 tn Heb “heavy.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 tn Heb “and they found him, the ones who shoot with the bow, and he was in pain from the ones shooting.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:4 tn Heb “so these uncircumcised ones might not come and abuse me.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:6 tn Heb “all his house.” This is probably to be understood as a general summary statement. It could include other males in Saul’s household besides his three sons, cf. 1 Sam 31:6. If it refers only to the male members of his household who would have stood in succession to the throne (cf. NLT, “bringing his dynasty to an end,”) even here there is an exception, since one of Saul’s sons, Eshbaal (or “Ishbosheth” in 2 Sam 2:8) was not killed in the battle and became king over Israel, which he ruled for two years (2 Sam 2:10) until he was assassinated by Rechab and Baanah (2 Sam 4:5-6). The tribe of Judah never acknowledged Ishbosheth as king; instead they followed David (2 Sam 2:10).
- 1 Chronicles 10:7 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the army) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Chronicles 10:10 tn Or “god.” The Hebrew term may be translated as singular or plural depending on the context.
- 1 Chronicles 10:12 tn Heb “arose and carried away the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:12 tn Heb “their bones.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 tn Heb “and Saul died in his unfaithfulness by which he acted unfaithfully against the Lord, concerning the Lord’s message which he did not keep, also to inquire of a medium to seek [an oracle].” The LXX adds “and the prophet Samuel answered him.” The text alludes to the incident recorded in 1 Sam 28.
- 1 Chronicles 10:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
1 Chronicles 10
Living Bible
10 The Philistines attacked and defeated the Israeli troops, who turned and fled and were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.[a] 2 They caught up with Saul and his three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, and killed them all. 3 Saul had been hard pressed with heavy fighting all around him, when the Philistine archers shot and wounded him.
4 He cried out to his bodyguard, “Quick, kill me with your sword before these uncircumcised heathen capture and torture me.”
But the man was afraid to do it, so Saul took his own sword and fell against its point; and it pierced his body. 5 Then his bodyguard, seeing that Saul was dead, killed himself in the same way. 6 So Saul and his three sons died together; the entire family was wiped out in one day.
7 When the Israelis in the valley below the mountain heard that their troops had been routed and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 When the Philistines went back the next day to strip the bodies of the men killed in action and to gather the booty from the battlefield, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. 9 So they stripped off Saul’s armor and cut off his head; then they displayed them throughout the nation and celebrated the wonderful news before their idols. 10 They fastened his armor to the walls of the Temple of the Gods and nailed his head to the wall of Dagon’s temple.
11 But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 their heroic warriors went out to the battlefield[b] and brought back his body and the bodies of his three sons. Then they buried them beneath the oak tree at Jabesh and mourned and fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died for his disobedience to the Lord and because he had consulted a medium,[c] 14 and did not ask the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 10:1 The remainder of 1 Chronicles deals with events preceding ch. 9.
- 1 Chronicles 10:12 battlefield, implied.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 medium, see 1 Samuel 28.
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