Dual PanelDavid succeeds Saul
1THE Philistines engaged Israel in battle, and the Israelites were routed, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines closely pursued Saul and his sons, and Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul, were killed.
3The battle went hard for Saul, and when the archers caught up with him they wounded him.
4He said to his armour-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, so that these uncircumcised brutes may not come and make sport of me.” But the armour-bearer refused; he dared not. Thereupon Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
5When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died.
6Thus Saul and his three sons died; his whole house perished together.
7When all the Israelites in the valley saw that their army had fled and that Saul and his sons had perished, they fled likewise, abandoning their towns; and the Philistines moved in and occupied them.
8Next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.
9They stripped him, cut off his head, and took away his armour; then they sent messengers through the length and breadth of their land to carry the good news to idols and people alike.
10They deposited his armour in the temple of their god, and nailed up his skull in the temple of Dagon.
11When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard everything the Philistines had done to Saul,
12all the warriors among them set out to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them back to Jabesh and buried their bones under the oak tree there, and for seven days they fasted.
13Thus Saul paid with his life for his unfaithfulness: he had disobeyed the word of the LORD and had resorted to ghosts for guidance.
14He had not sought guidance of the LORD, who therefore destroyed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.