Font Size
1 Chronicles 10
Easy-to-Read Version
1 Chronicles 10
Easy-to-Read Version
The Death of King Saul
10 The Philistines fought against the Israelites. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines. Many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines continued chasing Saul and his sons. They caught them and killed them. The Philistines killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki Shua. 3 The fighting was heavy around Saul. The archers shot Saul with their arrows and wounded him.
4 Then Saul said to the helper who carried his armor, “Pull out your sword and use it to kill me. Then these foreigners[a] will not hurt me and make fun of me when they come.”
But the helper was afraid. He refused to kill Saul. So Saul used his own sword to kill himself by falling on it. 5 When the helper saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died. 6 So Saul and three of his sons died. All of Saul’s family died together.
7 When all the Israelites living in the valley saw that their own army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came into the towns and lived in them.
8 The next day, the Philistines came to take valuable things from the dead bodies. They found Saul’s body and the bodies of his sons on Mount Gilboa. 9 The Philistines took things from Saul’s body. They took Saul’s head and armor. They sent messengers through all their country to tell the news to their false gods and to their people. 10 The Philistines put Saul’s armor in the temple of their false gods. They hung Saul’s head in the temple of Dagon.
11 All the people living in the town of Jabesh Gilead heard everything that the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 All the brave men from Jabesh Gilead went to get the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them back to Jabesh Gilead. They buried the bones of Saul and his sons under the large tree in Jabesh. Then they showed their sadness and fasted for seven days.
13 Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord. He did not obey the Lord’s word. Saul also went to a medium and asked her for advice 14 instead of asking the Lord. That is why the Lord killed Saul and gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son David.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 10:4 foreigners Literally, “uncircumcised.” This means people who did not share in the agreement God made with Israel. See “circumcise, circumcision” in the Word List.
1 Chronicles 10
New International Version
1 Chronicles 10
New International Version
Saul Takes His Life(A)
10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him.
4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me.”
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together.
7 When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news among their idols and their people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon.(B)
11 When all the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead(C) heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
13 Saul died(D) because he was unfaithful(E) to the Lord; he did not keep(F) the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium(G) for guidance, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned(H) the kingdom(I) over to David son of Jesse.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.