1 Chronicles Chapter 10

The Death of Saul and His Sons

¹ The Philistines attacked Israel, and they fled and fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons and struck down his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua. ³ The battle grew intense against Saul, and the archers wounded him. ⁴ He told his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through so these uncircumcised Philistines don’t come and torture me.” But his armor bearer was too afraid to do it; so Saul took his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw he was dead, he fell on his sword too. ⁶ So Saul’s whole dynasty died together.

⁷ When the Israelites in the valley saw they’d fled and Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled; the Philistines came and lived in them. ⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons. ⁹ They stripped him, took his head and armor, and sent messengers around the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and the people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ When Jabesh-gilead heard what they’d done to Saul, ¹² brave men got up and took the bodies of Saul and his sons, buried their bones under the terebinth tree in Jabesh, and fasted for a week.

¹³ So Saul died for his trespass against Yahveh ¹⁴ and because he inquired from a medium instead of Yahveh. He killed him and turned the kingdom over to David.                                                                                                     1 Ch 10:1-14