1 Samuel 31

31 ¹ The Philistines fought Israel; Israel's men fled them and fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul. ³ The battle pressed heavily against Saul. The archers found him, and he was badly wounded by them. ⁴ Saul told his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised men will come, run me through, and torment me." His armor-bearer refused—he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw 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.

⁷ When Israel's men across the valley and across the Jordan saw that Israel's army had fled and Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. The Philistines came and settled in them. ⁸ The next day, Philistines came to strip the dead and found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head, stripped his weapons, and sent messengers through Philistia to report it at their idols' temples and among the people. ¹⁰ They set his armor in Ashtoreth's temple and fastened his body to Beth-shan's wall. ^a a v10 Ashtoreth was a Canaanite goddess; placing Saul's armor in her temple was the Philistines' way of crediting their gods with the victory.

¹¹ When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² All their fighting men marched through the night, took Saul's body and his sons' bodies from Beth-shan's wall, brought them to Jabesh, and burned them there. ¹³ They took their bones, buried them under the tamarisk at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.