1 Samuel 31

Meanwhile, the Philistine army attacked the Israelite army. The Israelites ran away from them to Mount Gilboa. But the Philistines killed many of them there.

The Philistines caught up with Saul and the three of his sons who were fighting with him. They killed all three of them, Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi Shua.

The fighting became very fierce around Saul. The Philistine archers realized that he was the king of Israel, so they aimed many arrows at him and wounded him badly. \*

Saul told the man who was carrying his weapons, “Take out your sword and kill me with it! That way these pagan Philistines will not come and kill me slowly with many small wounds and make fun of me while I am dying.” But the man who was carrying Saul’s weapons was too afraid to do that. So Saul took out his own sword and threw himself on it. {The sword went deep into his body and killed him.}

When the man carrying his weapons saw that Saul had died, he also threw himself on his own sword. He died next to Saul.

So Saul, three of his sons, and the soldier who carried Saul’s weapons all died on that same day. So did all of the other Israelite soldiers who fought around Saul and protected him. \*

The Israelite people who lived in the area north of the Valley of Jezreel and west of the Jordan River learned that the Israelite army had run away and that Saul and his sons had died. {They knew that no one would now defend them from the Philistines, so} they left their homes and ran away. Then the Philistines came and occupied the cities and towns that area.

The day after the battle, the Philistine soldiers returned to take the weapons, armor, and clothing from the Israelite soldiers whom they had killed. They found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. \*

They cut off Saul’s head and took his weapons. Then they sent messengers throughout their land to proclaim the news of their victory in the temples where they worshiped their idols and publicly among the people.

They put Saul’s weapons in the temple of their goddess Asherah. They also fastened the bodies of Saul and his sons to the wall that surrounded the city of Beth Shan. \*

The people who lived in the city of Jabesh in the region of Gilead learned what the Philistines had done to Saul’s corpse.

All their bravest soldiers marched all night to Beth Shan. They took the bodies of Saul and his sons down from the city wall. They brought their bodies back to Jabesh and burned them there.

Then they took the bones and buried them under a big tamarisk tree in Jabesh {like the one Saul would sit under when he was with his royal court}. Then, to show how sad they were, they ate very little food for seven days.