1 Samuel 31 The killing of the Israelites and the death of Saul

 1 Samuel 31

The killing of the Israelites and the death of Saul

1 So the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell through the mountain of Gilboa.

2 And the Philistines pressed with Saul and his sons: and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua the sons of Saul.

3 And the battle raged against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he feared greatly because of the archers.

4 And Saul said to his page in arms, Pluck out thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest these uncircumcised come and pierce me and mock me. But his page-at-arms would not, because he feared greatly: so Saul took the sword, and fell upon it.

5 When his page in arms saw that Saul was slain, he also fell upon his sword, and died with him.

6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his page in arms, and all his men also died together that day.

7 And when the men of Israel, that were on this side of the valley and on this side of the 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, when the Philistines came the other day to plunder the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons lying on the mountain of Gilboa.

9 And they cut off his head, and stripped him of his weapons, and sent around the land of the Philistines to preach him in the temple of their idols, and among the people.

10 And they put their weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and his body they fixed on the wall of Beth-san.

11 When the inhabitants of Jabesh of Gilead heard this, what the Philistines did to Saul,

12 Every valiant man arose, and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons out of the wall of Beth-san, and when they came to Jabesh, they burned him.

13 And they took his bones, and buried them under a grove in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.