1 THE PHILISTINES FOUGHT A BATTLE against Israel, and the men of Israel were routed, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines hotly pursued Saul and his sons and killed the three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua. 3The battle went hard for Saul, for some archers came upon him and he was wounded by them. 4So he said to his armour-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through, so that these uncircumcised brutes may not come and make sport of me.' But the armour-bearer refused, he dared not; whereupon Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. 6Thus Saul died and his three sons; his whole house perished at one and the same time. 7And all the Israelites in the Vale, when they saw that their army had fled and that Saul and his sons had perished, fled likewise, abandoning their cities, and the Philistines went in and occupied them.
8Next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. 9They stripped him, cut off his head and took away his armour; then they sent messengers through the length and breadth of their land to take the good news to idols and people alike. 10They deposited his armour in the temple of their god , and nailed up his skull in the temple of Dagon. 11When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12the bravest of them set out together to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons; they brought them back to Jabesh and buried their bones under the oak-tree there, and fasted for seven days. 13Thus Saul paid with his life for his unfaithfulness: he had disobeyed the word of the LORD and had resorted to ghosts for guidance. 14He had not sought guidance of the LORD, who therefore destroyed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
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