1 Samuel 31
International Children’s Bible
The Death of Saul
31 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelites ran away from them. Many Israelites were killed at Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines fought hard against Saul and his sons. They killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting became bad around Saul. When the archers shot at him, he was badly wounded. 4 He said to the officer who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and kill me. Then those uncircumcised men won’t make fun of me and kill me.” But Saul’s officer refused, because he was afraid. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it. 5 The officer saw that Saul was dead. So he threw himself on his own sword. And he died with Saul. 6 So Saul, his three sons and the officer who carried his armor died together that day.
7 Now there were Israelites who lived on the other side of Jezreel Valley. And some lived across the Jordan River. They saw how the Israelite army had run away. And they saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their cities and ran away. Then the Philistines came and lived there.
8 The next day the Philistines came to take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers. They found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off Saul’s head and took off his armor. Then they sent men to tell the news through all the land of the Philistines. They told it in the temple of their idols and to their people. 10 They put Saul’s armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths. They also hung his body on the wall of Beth Shan.
11 The people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 So the brave soldiers of Jabesh marched all night and came to Beth Shan. They took the bodies of Saul and his sons off the wall of Beth Shan. Then they took them to Jabesh. There the people of Jabesh burned the bodies. 13 They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh gave up eating for seven days.
1 Samuel 31
New King James Version
The Tragic End of Saul and His Sons(A)
31 Now (B)the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount (C)Gilboa. 2 Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed (D)Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3 (E)The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers [a]hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.
4 (F)Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest (G)these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and [b]abuse me.”
But his armorbearer would not, (H)for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and (I)fell on it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.
7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to (J)proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10 (K)Then they put his armor in the temple of the (L)Ashtoreths, and (M)they fastened his body to the wall of (N)Beth[c] Shan.
11 (O)Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 (P)all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and (Q)burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and (R)buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, (S)and fasted seven days.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 31:3 Lit. found him
- 1 Samuel 31:4 torture
- 1 Samuel 31:10 Beth Shean, Josh. 17:11
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.