1 The Philistines attacked Israel, and the
Israelites fled or were killed on Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines caught up with Saul and killed Jonathan, Abinadab and
Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
3 The fighting grew heavy about Saul; he was hit by enemy arrows and badly
wounded.
4 Then Saul said to the young man carrying his weapon, ˇ°Draw your sword and
kill me. I do not want these godless Phil istines to come and gloat over
me.ˇ± But the young man was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own
sword and threw himself on it.
5 Then the young man threw himself on his sword too and died.
6 And so Saul died, he and his three sons and all his own together.
7 All the Israelites who were in the valley heard that the army had fled and
that Saul and his sons were dead. So they abandoned their towns and ran
away. The Philistines then came in and occupied them.
8 When the Philistines came on the following day to strip the dead, they
found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
9 They stripped him and, taking his head and his armor, had them carried
around the land of the Philistines to proclaim the good news to their idols
and their people.
10 They placed his armor in the temple of their god, but his head they hung
in the temple of Dagon.
11 When all the people of Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to
Saul,
12 the valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons away and
brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak tree in
Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died because he had been unfaithful to Yahweh: he had disobeyed the
commands of Yahweh; he had even consulted the spirits of the dead.
14 As he had not consulted Yahweh, Yahweh put him to death and gave control
of the kingdom to David son of Jesse.