1 Samuel 31

1 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and they fell wounded on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines closed in on Saul and on his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 And the battle bore down hard on Saul, and the shooters found him, men with bows, and he was wounded under the ribs. [a]

4 And Saul said to the man who carried his weapons, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, before these uncircumcised men come and run me through and make sport of me.” But the man who carried his weapons would not, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. 5 And when the man who carried his weapons saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and the man who carried his weapons — all of them together on that day. [b] † †

7 And when the men of Israel who were across the valley, and those across the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and settled in them. 8 The next day the Philistines came to strip the dead, and they found Saul and his three sons fallen on the mountains of Gilboa. 9 And they turned him over and stripped off his weapons and sent them into the land of the Philistines, carrying the good news all around to their idols and to their people. [c] 10 And they set his weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. [d]

11 And the people living in Jabesh of Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 And every man of strength among them rose up and marched all night, and they took the body of Saul and the body of Jonathan his son down from the wall of Beth-shan, and brought them to Jabesh and burned them there. [e] 13 And they took their bones and buried them under the plowed field at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. [f]