1Samuel 31:12 - Prayer Tents

1Samuel 31

The Death of Saul

31Now the Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them. Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.H6430H3898H3478H582H3478H5127H6440H6430H5307H2491H2022H15332The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, and they killed three of his sons—Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua.H6430H1692H7586H1121H6430H5221H3083H41H4444H7586H11213The fighting grew very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine archers caught up with him and wounded him severely.H4421H3513H7586H3384H582H7198H4672H3966H2342H3384H582H71984Saul groaned to his armor bearer, "Take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me." But his armor bearer was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.H559H7586H5375H3627H8025H2719H1856H6189H935H1856H5953H5375H3627H14H3966H3372H7586H3947H2719H53075When his armor bearer realized that Saul was dead, he fell on his own sword and died beside the king.H5375H3627H7200H7586H4191H5307H2719H41916So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and his troops all died together that same day.H7586H4191H7969H1121H5375H3627H582H3117H31627When the Israelites on the other side of the Jezreel Valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. So the Philistines moved in and occupied their towns.H582H3478H5676H6010H5676H3383H7200H582H3478H5127H7586H1121H4191H5800H5892H5127H6430H935H34278The next day, when the Philistines went out to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa.H4283H6430H935H6584H2491H4672H7586H7969H1121H5307H2022H15339So they cut off Saul's head and stripped off his armor. Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul's death in their pagan temple and to the people throughout the land of Philistia.H3772H7218H6584H3627H7971H776H6430H5439H1319H1004H6091H597110They placed his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of the city of Beth-shan.H7760H3627H1004H6252H1045H8628H1472H2346H105211But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,H3427H3003H1568H8085H6430H6213H758612all their mighty warriors traveled through the night to Beth-shan and took the bodies of Saul and his sons down from the wall. They brought them to Jabesh, where they burned the bodies.H2428H376H381H6965H3212H3915H3947H1472H7586H1472H1121H2346H1052H935H3003H831313Then they took their bones and buried them beneath the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.H3947H6106H6912H815H3003H6684H7651H3117