1 Samuel 31

The Death of Saul

^31:1Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ^31:2The Philistines stayed right on the heels¹ of Saul and his sons. They² struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. ^31:3Saul himself was in the thick of the battle;³ the archers⁴ spotted him and wounded him severely.

^31:4Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. ^31:5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. ^31:6So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.

^31:7When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

^31:8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his three sons lying dead⁵ on Mount Gilboa. ^31:9They cut off Saul’s⁶ head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines. ^31:10They placed Saul’s armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths⁷ and hung his corpse on the city wall of Beth Shan.

^31:11When the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^31:12all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul’s corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went⁸ to Jabesh, where they burned them. ^31:13They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.