1 Samuel 31

¹And the Philistines are fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel flee from the face of the Philistines, and fall wounded in mount Gilboa, ²and the Philistines follow Saul and his sons, and the Philistines smite Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul. ³And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him—men with bow—and he is pained greatly by the archers; ⁴and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, ‘Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come—these uncircumcised—and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;’ and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it. ⁵And the bearer of his weapons seeth that Saul is dead, and he falleth—he also—on his sword, and dieth with him; ⁶and Saul dieth, and three of his sons, and the bearer of his weapons, also all his men, on that day together. ⁷And they see—the men of Israel, who are beyond the valley, and who are beyond the Jordan—that the men of Israel have fled, and that Saul and his sons have died, and they forsake the cities and flee, and Philistines come in, and dwell in them.

⁸And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the Philistines come to strip the wounded, and they find Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa, ⁹and they cut off his head, and strip off his weapons, and send into the land of the Philistines round about, to proclaim tidings in the house of their idols, and among the people; ¹⁰and they place his weapons in the house of Ashtaroth, and his body they have fixed on the wall of Beth-Shan. ¹¹And they hear regarding it—the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead—that which the Philistines have done to Saul, ¹²and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there, ¹³and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.

Chapter 1