1 Samuel 31

1And the Philistines are fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel flee from the face of the Philistines, and fall wounded in mount Gilboa,

2and the Philistines follow Saul and his sons, and the Philistines smite Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul.

3And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him — men with bow — and he is pained greatly by the archers;

4and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, ‘Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come — these uncircumcised — and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;’ and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it.

5And the bearer of his weapons seeth that Saul [is] dead, and he falleth — he also — on his sword, and dieth with him;

6and Saul dieth, and three of his sons, and the bearer of his weapons, also all his men, on that day together.

7And they see — the men of Israel, who [are] beyond the valley, and who [are] beyond the Jordan — that the men of Israel have fled, and that Saul and his sons have died, and they forsake the cities and flee, and Philistines come in, and dwell in them.

8And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the Philistines come to strip the wounded, and they find Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa,

9and they cut off his head, and strip off his weapons, and send into the land of the Philistines round about, to proclaim tidings [in] the house of their idols, and [among] the people;

10and they place his weapons [in] the house of Ashtaroth, and his body they have fixed on the wall of Beth-Shan.

11And they hear regarding it — the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead — that which the Philistines have done to Saul,

12and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there,

13and they take their bones, and bury [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.

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1 Samuel 31: YLT98

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1 Samuel 31

Saul Takes His Own Life

1The Philistines fought against the Israelites. The Israelites ran away from them. But many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines kept chasing Saul and his sons. They killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3The fighting was heavy around Saul. Men who were armed with bows and arrows caught up with him. They shot their arrows at him and wounded him badly.

4Saul spoke to the man carrying his armor. He said, “Pull out your sword. Stick it through me. If you don’t, these fellows who aren’t circumcised will come. They’ll stick their swords through me and hurt me badly.”

But the man was terrified. He wouldn’t do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5The man saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died with him. 6Saul and his three sons died together that same day. The man who carried his armor also died with them that day. So did all of Saul’s men.

7The Israelites who lived along the valley saw that their army had run away. So did those who lived across the Jordan River. They saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and made their homes in them.

8The day after the Philistines had won the battle, they came to take what they wanted from the dead bodies. They found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa. 9So they cut off Saul’s head. They took his armor from his body. Then they sent messengers through the whole land of the Philistines. They announced the news in the temple where they had set up statues of their gods. They also announced it among their people. 10They put Saul’s armor in the temple where they had set up statues of female gods that were named Ashtoreth. They hung his body up on the wall of Beth Shan.

11The people of Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12So all their brave men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They brought them to Jabesh. There they burned them. 13Then they got the bones of Saul and his sons and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh. They didn’t eat anything for seven days.

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