Saul and Jonathan Die

¹The Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines and fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, killing Jonathan, Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul's sons. ³The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers hit him, leaving him badly wounded. ⁴Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, so these uncircumcised won't come and kill me and abuse me." But his armor bearer was too afraid to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵When the armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell on his own sword too and died alongside him. ⁶Saul, his 3 sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that same day. ⁷When the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines then came and lived in them. ⁸The next day, the Philistines came to strip the dead and found Saul and his 3 sons lying on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, then sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the news in the temples of their idols and among the people. ¹⁰They placed his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. ¹¹When the people of Jabeshgilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²All the valiant men arose and traveled through the night. They took the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Bethshan, brought them to Jabesh, and burned them there. ¹³Then they gathered the bones and buried them under a tree in Jabesh, and they fasted for 7 days.