1Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The men of Israel ran away from the Philistines, and they fell down dead on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines chased hard after Saul and after his sons. They killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3The fighting was heavy around Saul. The archers found him, and he was wounded by the archers.
4Then Saul said to the man who carried his armour, "Draw your sword and run me through with it. If you do not, these men who are not circumcised will come and treat me shamefully." But the man who carried his armour would not do it, because he was very much afraid. So Saul took a sword and fell on it.
5When the man who carried his armour saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died.
6So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his household died together.
7All the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that their army had run away, and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their cities and ran away, and the Philistines came and lived in them.
8The next day the Philistines came to strip the dead. They found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9When they had stripped him, they took his head and his armour. Then they sent messengers all through the land of the Philistines, to carry the news to their idols and to the people.
10They put his armour in the house of their gods, and they fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.
11All the people of Jabeshgilead heard everything the Philistines had done to Saul.
12So all the brave men got up and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons. They brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
13So Saul died for the wrong he had done against the LORD. He did not keep the word of the LORD. He also asked advice from a woman who had a familiar spirit, to ask her about the future,
14and he did not ask the LORD. So the LORD put him to death, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.