Saul and His Sons Slain

31 ^(A)Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain ^(B)on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines ^[a]killed ^(C)Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. ^3 (D)The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers ^[b]hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers. ^4 (E)Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise ^(F)these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. ^(G)So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.

⁷ When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ It came about on the ^[c]next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them ^[d]throughout the land of the Philistines, ^(H)to carry the good news ^(I)to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his weapons in the ^[e]temple of ^(J)Ashtaroth, and ^(K)they fastened his body to the wall of ^(L)Beth-shan. ¹¹ Now when ^(M)the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard ^[f]what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (N)all the valiant men rose and walked 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 ^(O)burned them there. ¹³ They took their bones and ^(P)buried them under ^(Q)the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and ^(R)fasted seven days.

The Lord Surrounds His People.

A Song of Ascents.

A Call to Prayer

2 First of all, then, I urge that ^(A)entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, ^2 (B)for kings and all who are in ^[a]authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and ^[b]dignity. ³ This is good and acceptable in the sight of ^(C)God our Savior, ^4 (D)who desires all men to be ^(E)saved and to ^(F)come to the ^[c]knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is ^(G)one God, and ^(H)one mediator also between God and men, the ^(I)man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who ^(J)gave Himself as a ransom for all, the ^(K)testimony ^[d]given at ^[e](L)the proper time. ^7 (M)For this I was appointed a ^[f]preacher and ^(N)an apostle (^(O)I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of ^(P)the Gentiles in faith and truth.

⁸ Therefore ^(Q)I want the men ^(R)in every place to pray, ^(S)lifting up ^(T)holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Women Instructed

⁹ Likewise, I want ^(U)women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, ^[g]modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, ¹⁰ but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. ^11 (V)A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. ^12 (W)But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. ^13 (X)For it was Adam who was first ^[h]created, and then Eve. ¹⁴ And it was not Adam who was deceived, but ^(Y)the woman being deceived, ^[i]fell into transgression. ¹⁵ But women will be ^[j]preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in ^(Z)faith and love and sanctity with ^[k]self-restraint.