The Death of Saul

¹Now when the Philistines fought against Israel, every Israelite fled before the Philistines, and the slain fell on Mount Gilboa.[#1Sa 31; 1Ch 10:8]

²But the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons and struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

³As the battle against Saul became fierce, the archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers.

⁴So Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me with it, lest these uncircumcised Philistines come and make sport of me.”

But his armor bearer was unwilling to do it because he was overwhelmed with fear, so Saul took the sword and fell on it himself.

⁵When the armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died.

⁶Thus, Saul and his three sons, namely all his house, died together.

⁷Now when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and occupied them.

⁸The next day, when the Philistines came to pillage the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹So they stripped Saul and took his head and his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people.

¹⁰Then they placed his armor in the temple of their gods, while his head they impaled in the house of Dagon.

¹¹Now all Jabesh-gilead heard about everything the Philistines did to Saul,

¹²so their valiant men rose up and carried the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

¹³So Saul died for his unfaithful deeds against the Lord , because he did not keep the word of the Lord , and because he consulted a medium, seeking guidance.[#Lev 19:31; 20:6]

¹⁴But he did not seek guidance from the Lord . So He killed him and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.[#1Sa 13:14; 15:28]