1 Then the Philistims fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled before the Philistims, and fell downe slaine in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistims pursued after Saul and after his sonnes, and the Philistims smote Ionathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua the sonnes of Saul. 3 And the battel was sore against Saul; and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. 4 Then sayde Saul to his armour bearer, Drawe out thy sworde, and thrust me thorowe therewith, lest these vncircumcised come and mocke at me: but his armour bearer would not, for he was sore afraid: therefore Saul tooke the sword and fell vpon it. 5 And when his armour bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise vpon the sworde, and dyed. 6 So Saul dyed and his three sonnes, and all his house, they dyed together. 7 And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley, sawe how they fledde, and that Saul and his sonnes were dead, they forsooke their cities, and fled away, and the Philistims came, and dwelt in them. 8 And on the morrowe when the Philistims came to spoyle them that were slaine, they found Saul and his sonnes lying in mount Gilboa. 9 And when they had stript him, they tooke his head and his armour, and sent them into the land of the Philistims round about, to publish it vnto their idoles, and to the people. 10 And they layd vp his armour in the house of their god, and set vp his head in the house of Dagon. 11 When all they of Iabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistims had done to Saul, 12 Then they arose (all the valiant men) and tooke the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sonnes, and brought them to Iabesh, and buryed the bones of them vnder an oke in Iabesh, and fasted seuen dayes. 13 So Saul dyed for his transgression, that he committed against the Lord, euen against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and in that he sought and asked counsel of a familiar spirit, 14 And asked not of the Lord: therefore he slewe him, and turned the kingdome vnto Dauid the sonne of Ishai.
The Death of King Saul
(1 Samuel 31.1-13)1 The Philistines fought a battle against the Israelites on Mount Gilboa. Many Israelites were killed there, and the rest of them, including King Saul and his sons, fled. 2 But the Philistines caught up with them and killed three of Saul's sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 3 The fighting was heavy around Saul, and he was hit by enemy arrows and badly wounded. 4 He said to the young man carrying his weapons, “Draw your sword and kill me, to keep these godless Philistines from gloating over me.” But the young man was too terrified to do it. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it. 5 The young man saw that Saul was dead, so he too threw himself on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons all died together, and none of his descendants ever ruled. 7 When the Israelites who lived in Jezreel Valley heard that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and ran off. Then the Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The day after the battle the Philistines went to plunder the corpses, and they found the bodies of Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off Saul's head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers with them throughout Philistia to tell the good news to their idols and to their people. 10 They put his weapons in one of their temples and hung his head in the temple of their god Dagon. 11 When the people of Jabesh in Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 the bravest men went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons and took them to Jabesh. They buried them there under an oak and fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He disobeyed the Lord's commands; he tried to find guidance by consulting the spirits of the dead 14 instead of consulting the Lord. So the Lord killed him and gave control of the kingdom to David son of Jesse.