1Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.2And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul' sons.3And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.4Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.5And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.6So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.7And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.8And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.9And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.10And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.11And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;12All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.13And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
1The Philistines fought against the Israelites. The Israelites ran away from them. But many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa.2The Philistines kept chasing Saul and his sons. They killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua.3The fighting was heavy around Saul. Men who were armed with bows and arrows caught up with him. They shot their arrows at him and wounded him badly.4Saul spoke to the man carrying his armour. He said, ‘Pull out your sword. Stick it through me. If you don’t, these fellows who aren’t circumcised will come. They’ll stick their swords through me and hurt me badly.’ But the man was terrified. He wouldn’t do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.5The man saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died with him.6Saul and his three sons died together that same day. The man who carried his armour also died with them that day. So did all of Saul’s men.7The Israelites who lived along the valley saw that their army had run away. So did those who lived across the River Jordan. They saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and made their homes in them.8The day after the Philistines had won the battle, they came to take what they wanted from the dead bodies. They found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa.9So they cut off Saul’s head. They took his armour from his body. Then they sent messengers through the whole land of the Philistines. They announced the news in the temple where they had set up statues of their gods. They also announced it among their people.10They put Saul’s armour in the temple where they had set up statues of female gods that were named Ashtoreth. They hung his body up on the wall of Beth Shan.11The people of Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul.12So all their brave men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They brought them to Jabesh. There they burned them.13Then they got the bones of Saul and his sons and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh. They didn’t eat anything for seven days.