1 Samuel 31

Chapter 31

Saul and His Sons Slain

^1aNow the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain ^bon Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines ¹killed ^aJonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul.

^3aThe battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers ¹hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers.

^4aThen Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise ^bthese uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. ^cSo Saul took his sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him.

⁶Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.

⁷When 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.

⁸It came about on the ¹next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them ¹throughout the land of the Philistines, ^ato carry the good news ^bto the house of their idols and to the people.

¹⁰They put his weapons in the ¹temple of ^aAshtaroth, and ^bthey fastened his body to the wall of ^cBeth-shan.

¹¹Now when ^athe inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard ¹what the Philistines had done to Saul,

^12aall 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 ^bburned them there.

¹³They took their bones and ^aburied them under ^bthe tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and ^cfasted seven days.