1 The Philistines made war on Israel, and the men of Israel ran from the Philistines, and the slain fell on Mount Gilboa.
2 The Philistines kept close on the heels of Saul and his sons, and they killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul's sons.
3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul; the archers caught him with the bow, and he was in anguish because of the archers.
4 Saul said to the man who carried his weapons, "Pull out your sword and pierce me with it, before these uncircumcised come and abuse me." But the man who carried his weapons was unwilling, for he was very much afraid. So Saul took the sword and threw himself on it.
5 And when the man who carried his weapons saw that Saul had died, he too threw himself on the sword and died.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
7 And every man of Israel in the valley, when they saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, left their cities and ran away; then the Philistines came and settled in them.
8 On the following day the Philistines came to plunder the slain, and they found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
9 They stripped Saul, took his head and his armor, and sent word around the land of the Philistines to bring the good news to their idols and to the people.
10 His armor they placed in the house of their gods, and his skull they fixed in the house of Dagon.
11 But when all Jabesh-gilead heard everything the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 every brave man among them set out and took away Saul's body and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones beneath the oak at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.
13 Thus Saul died because of the unfaithfulness he had shown toward the LORD, concerning the word of the LORD that he did not keep, and also because he asked a medium to inquire of her.
14 He did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD killed him and handed the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.