Saul and His Sons Fall in Battle
31 1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle pressed heavily against Saul. The archers found him, and he was badly wounded by them.
4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer would not, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul died that day, together with his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men.
Israel Abandons Its Towns
7 When the men of Israel across the valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. Then the Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtoreth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 1 1 v10 Ashtoreth was a Canaanite goddess; placing Saul's armor in her temple was the Philistines' way of crediting their gods with the victory.
Jabesh-Gilead Honors Saul
11 When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their brave men set out, traveled through the night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. They came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.