1 Chronicles 10
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down wounded in mount Gelboe.
2 And the Philistines drew near pursuing after Saul, and his sons, and they killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchisua the sons of Saul.
3 And the battle grew hard against Saul, and the archers reached him, and wounded him with arrows.
4 And Saul said to his armourbearer: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest these uncircumcised come, and mock me. But his armourbearer would not, for he was struck with fear: so Saul took his sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw it, to wit, that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house fell together.
7 And when the men of Israel, that dwelt in the plains, saw this, they fled: and Saul and his sons being dead, they forsook their cities, and were scattered up and down: and the Philistines came, and dwelt in them.
8 And the next day the Philistines taking away the spoils of them that were slain, found Saul and his sons lying on mount Gelboe.
9 And when they had stripped him, and cut off his head, and taken away his armour, they sent it into their land, to be carried about, and shewn in the temples of the idols and to the people.
10 And his armour they dedicated in the temple of their god, and his head they fastened up in the temple of Dagon.
11 And when the men of Jabes Galaad had heard this, to wit, all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 All the valiant men of them arose, and took the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and brought them to Jabes, and buried their bones under the oak that was in Jabes, and they fasted seven days.
13 So Saul died for his iniquities, because he transgressed the commandment of the Lord, which he had commanded, and kept it not: and moreover consulted also a witch,
14 And trusted not is the Lord: therefore he slew him, and transferred his kingdom to David the son of Isai.
1 Chronicles 10
New English Translation
Saul’s Death
10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels of[a] Saul and his sons. They[b] struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 3 The battle was thick[c] around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him.[d] 4 Saul told his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me.”[e] But his armor-bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household[f] died together. 7 When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army[g] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped his corpse, and then carried off his head and his armor. They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news to their idols and their people. 10 They placed his armor in the temple of their gods[h] and hung his head in the temple of Dagon. 11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons[i] and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains[j] under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.
13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.[k] 14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord[l] killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 10:2 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:2 tn Heb “the Philistines.” The translation has substituted the pronoun “they” to avoid redundancy.
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 tn Heb “heavy.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:3 tn Heb “and they found him, the ones who shoot with the bow, and he was in pain from the ones shooting.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:4 tn Heb “so these uncircumcised ones might not come and abuse me.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:6 tn Heb “all his house.” This is probably to be understood as a general summary statement. It could include other males in Saul’s household besides his three sons, cf. 1 Sam 31:6. If it refers only to the male members of his household who would have stood in succession to the throne (cf. NLT, “bringing his dynasty to an end,”) even here there is an exception, since one of Saul’s sons, Eshbaal (or “Ishbosheth” in 2 Sam 2:8) was not killed in the battle and became king over Israel, which he ruled for two years (2 Sam 2:10) until he was assassinated by Rechab and Baanah (2 Sam 4:5-6). The tribe of Judah never acknowledged Ishbosheth as king; instead they followed David (2 Sam 2:10).
- 1 Chronicles 10:7 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the army) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Chronicles 10:10 tn Or “god.” The Hebrew term may be translated as singular or plural depending on the context.
- 1 Chronicles 10:12 tn Heb “arose and carried away the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:12 tn Heb “their bones.”
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 tn Heb “and Saul died in his unfaithfulness by which he acted unfaithfully against the Lord, concerning the Lord’s message which he did not keep, also to inquire of a medium to seek [an oracle].” The LXX adds “and the prophet Samuel answered him.” The text alludes to the incident recorded in 1 Sam 28.
- 1 Chronicles 10:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.