⁶ “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,^(A)” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit.

⁴ The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem,^(A) while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa.^(B)

³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.^(A)

⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me.”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; 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 and his three sons died, and all his house died together.

Saul Takes His Life^(A)

31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa.^{(B) 2} The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons,^(C) and they killed his sons Jonathan,^(D) Abinadab and Malki-Shua.^{(E) 3} The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded^(F) him critically.

⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through,^(G) or these uncircumcised^(H) fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; 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 with him. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died^(I) together that same day.

⁷ When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.

⁹ but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh,^(A) then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”

³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters.^(A) As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.^(B)