I Samuel 31

1. And the Philistines fought against Israel. And the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down wounded in Mount Gilboa.

2. And the Philistines followed Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

3. And the battle went hard against Saul. Then the archers hit him, and he was sorely wounded by the archers.

4. And Saul said to his armor-bearer “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised ones come and thrust me through, and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he was very much afraid. So Saul took a sword and fell upon it.

5. And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.

6. And Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, that same day together.

7. And the men of Israel beyond the valley, and who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled and that Saul and his sons had died. And they abandoned the cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

8. And it came to pass on the next day, the Philistines came to strip the slain, and they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

9. And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people.

10. And they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

11. And when the people of Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul,

12. Then all the brave men arose, and they traveled all night. And they took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and came to Jabesh, and burned them there.

13. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh. And they fasted seven days.