1 Samuel 31:1-13
King Saul Takes His Life
1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised 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 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.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
11 When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
Meanwhile, the Philistines fought against the Israelites, and the Israelites ran from them...There were many dead bodies that fell at Mount Gilboa...The Philistines fought hard against Saul and his sons...They killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki Shua...The battle grew even more intense around Saul...The archers closed in on Saul and wounded him with many arrows...Saul told the boy who carried his armor, “Take your sword and kill me or else these foreigners will do it and torment me as well!”...But Saul’s helper was afraid and refused to kill him...So Saul took out his own sword and fell on it...When the helper saw that Saul was dead, he took out his own sword, fell on it, and died there with Saul...So Saul, his three sons, and the boy who carried his armor all died together that day...The Israelites who lived on the other side of the valley saw the Israelite army running away...They saw that Saul and his sons were dead, so they left their cities and ran away...Then the Philistines came and lived in their cities...The next day, the Philistines went back to take things from the dead bodies...They found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa...The Philistines cut off Saul’s head and took all his armor...They carried the news to the Philistines and to all the temples of their idols...They put Saul’s armor in the temple of Ashtoreth...The Philistines also hung Saul’s body on the wall of Beth Shan...The people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines did to Saul...So all the soldiers of Jabesh went to Beth Shan...They marched all night, went to the wall of Beth Shan, and took down the bodies of Saul and his sons...Then they carried them to Jabesh...There the people of Jabesh burned the bodies of Saul and his three sons...Later, they buried the bones of Saul and his three sons under the big tree in Jabesh...Then the people of Jabesh showed their sadness—they did not eat for seven days...