1 Samuel 31

Revised Geneva Translation

31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. And the men of Israel fled away from the Philistines. And they fell down, wounded, on Mount Gilboa.

² And the Philistines pressed hard upon Saul and his sons, and killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

³ And when the battle went fiercely against Saul, the archers and bowmen hit him. And he was badly wounded by the archers.

⁴ Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw out your sword and thrust me through with it, lest the uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mock me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore, Saul took a sword and fell upon it.

⁵ And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword, and died with him.

⁶ So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day, together.

⁷ And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and they of the other side of Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had been put to flight, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they left the cities and ran away. And the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

⁸ And the next day, when the Philistines had come to plunder those who had been killed, they found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa.

⁹ And they cut off his head and stripped him out of his armor and sent into the land of the Philistines, on every side, so that they could proclaim it in the temple of their idols, and among the people.

¹⁰ And they laid up his armor in the house of Ashtoreth, but they hung up his body on the wall of Beth Shan.

¹¹ When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹² then they arose (as many as were strong men) and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and came to Jabesh and burnt them there,

¹³ and took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted for seven days.