1 Samuel 31

The Tragic End of Saul and His Sons

31Now ^athe Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount ^bGilboa. ²Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed ^cJonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. ^3dThe battle became fierce against Saul. The archers ¹hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

^4eThen Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest ^fthese uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and ²abuse me.”

But his armorbearer would not, ^gfor he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and ^hfell on it. ⁵And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. ⁶So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.

⁷And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. ⁸So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to ⁱproclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. ^10jThen they put his armor in the temple of the ^kAshtoreths, and ^lthey fastened his body to the wall of ^mBeth ³Shan.

¹¹ⁿNow when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12oall the valiant men arose and traveled 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 ^pburned them there. ¹³Then they took their bones and ^qburied them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, ^rand fasted seven days.