1 Now the Philistims fought against Israel, and the me of Israel fled away from ye Philistims, and they fell downe wounded in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistims preassed sore vpon Saul and his sonnes, and slewe Ionathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua Sauls sonnes. 3 And when the battel went sore against Saul, the archers and bowmen hit him, and hee was sore wounded of the archers. 4 Then saide Saul vnto his armour bearer, Drawe out thy sworde, and thrust mee through therewith, lest the vncircumcised come and thrust me through and mocke me: but his armour bearer would not, for hee was sore afraid. Therefore Saul tooke a sworde and fell vpon it. 5 And when his armour bearer sawe that Saul was dead, he fell likewise vpon his sword, and dyed with him. 6 So Saul dyed, and his three sonnes, and his armour bearer, 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 of the other side Iorden saw that the men of Israel were put to flight, and that Saul and his sonnes were dead, then they left the cities, and ran away: and the Philistims came and dwelt in them. 8 And on the morowe when the Philistims were come to spoyle them that were slaine, they founde Saul and his three sonnes lying in mount Gilboa, 9 And they cut off his head, and stripped him out of his armour, and sent into the land of ye Philistims on euery side, that they should publish it in the temple of their idoles, and among the people. 10 And they layed vp his armour in the house of Ashtaroth, but they hanged vp his body on the wall of Beth-shan. 11 When the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead heard, what the Philistims had done to Saul, 12 Then they arose (as many as were strong men) and went all night, and tooke the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sonnes, from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Iabesh, and burnt them there, 13 And tooke their bones and buried them vnder a tree at Iabesh, and fasted seuen dayes.
The Death of Saul and His Sons
(1 Chronicles 10.1-12)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 himself was hit by enemy arrows and badly wounded. 4 He said to the young man carrying his weapons, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that these godless Philistines won't gloat over me and kill 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 own sword and died with Saul. 6 And that is how Saul, his three sons, and the young man died; all of Saul's men died that day. 7 When the Israelites on the other side of Jezreel Valley and east of the Jordan River heard that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had been killed, they abandoned their towns and fled. Then the Philistines came and occupied the towns.
8 The day after the battle the Philistines went to plunder the corpses, and they found the bodies of Saul and his three 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 Then they put his weapons in the temple of the goddess Astarte, and they nailed his body to the wall of the city of Beth Shan.
11 When the people of Jabesh in Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 the bravest men started out and marched all night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall, brought them back to Jabesh, and burned them there. 13 Then they took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in town, and fasted for seven days.