¶ Now the Philistines¹ fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down² slain³ in mount Gilboa.

And the Philistines followed⁴ hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan⁵, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons⁶.

And the battle went sore⁷ against Saul, and the archers hit him;⁸ and he was sore wounded of the archers.

Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw⁹ thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised¹⁰ come and thrust me through, and abuse me.¹¹ But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul¹² took a sword¹³, and fell upon it.

¹⁴And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

¹⁵So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities¹⁶, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

¶ And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip¹⁷ the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.

And they cut off¹⁸ his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish¹⁹ it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

¶ And they put²⁰ his armour in the house of Ashtaroth²¹: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan²².

And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead²³ heard of that²⁴ which the Philistines had done to Saul;

All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there²⁵.

And they took their bones²⁶, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven²⁷ days.