1 Samuel 31
1 Now the
Philistines fought against
Israel: and the
men of
Israel fled from
before the
Philistines, and fell
down slain in
mount Gilboa. 2 And the
Philistines followed
hard upon
Saul and upon his
sons; and the
Philistines slew Jonathan, and
Abinadab, and
Malchishua, Saul's sons. 3 And the
battle went
sore against
Saul, and the
archers hit him; and he was
sore wounded of the
archers .
4 Then
said Saul unto his
armourbearer ,
Draw thy
sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me
through, and
abuse me. But his
armourbearer would not; for he was
sore afraid. Therefore
Saul took a
sword, and
fell upon it.
5 And when his
armourbearer saw that
Saul was
dead, he
fell likewise upon his
sword, and
died with him.
6 So
Saul died, and his
three sons, and his
armourbearer , and all his
men, that same
day together. 7 And when the
men of
Israel that were on the other
side of the
valley, and they that were on the other
side Jordan, saw that the
men of
Israel fled, and that
Saul and his
sons were
dead, they
forsook the
cities, and
fled; and the
Philistines came and
dwelt in them.
8 And it came to pass on the
morrow, when the
Philistines came to
strip the
slain, that they
found Saul and his
three sons fallen in
mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut
off his
head, and stripped
off his
armour, and
sent into the
land of the
Philistines round
about, to
publish it in the
house of their
idols, and among the
people. 10 And they
put his
armour in the
house of
Ashtaroth : and they
fastened his
body to the
wall of
Bethshan. 11 And when the
inhabitants of
Jabeshgilead heard of that which the
Philistines had
done to
Saul; 12 All the
valiant men arose, and
went all
night, and
took the
body of
Saul and the
bodies of his
sons from the
wall of
Bethshan, and
came to
Jabesh, and
burnt them there.
13 And they
took their
bones, and
buried them under a
tree at
Jabesh, and
fasted seven days.