Saul having lost his army, and his sons slain, he and his armourbearer kill themselves.

1 ¶ Now the Philistinesº foughtºª against Israel:º and the men¹² of Israelº fledºª from beforeº² the Philistines,º and fell downºª slainº in mountº Gilboa.º 2 And the Philistinesº followed hard¹ª upon²² Saulº and upon his sons;º and the Philistinesº slewºª² Jonathan,º and Abinadab,º and Malchishua,º Saul'sº sons.º 3 And the battleº went soreºª against² Saul,º and the archersºª¹¹² hitºª him; and he was soreº woundedºª of the archers.ºª¹¹² 4 Then saidºª Saulº unto his armourbearer,ººª Drawºª thy sword,º and thrust me throughºª therewith; lest² these² uncircumcisedº comeºª and thrust me through,ºª and abuseºª me. But his armourbearerººª wouldºª not;² for² he was soreº afraid.ºª Therefore Saulº tookºª² a sword,º and fellºª upon² it. 5 And when his armourbearerººª sawºª that² Saulº was dead,ºª he² fellºª likewise² upon² his sword,º and diedºª with² him. 6 So Saulº died,ºª and his threeº sons,º and his armourbearer,ººª and² all² his men,¹² that same² dayº together.º

The Philistines possess the forsaken towns of the Israelites.

7 ¶ And when the men¹² of Israelº that² [were] on the other sideº of the valley,º and [they] that² [were] on the other sideº Jordan,º sawºª that² the men¹² of Israelº fled,ºª and that² Saulº and his sonsº were dead,ºª they forsookºª² the cities,º and fled;ºª and the Philistinesº cameºª and dweltºª in them.²

They triumph over the dead carcases.

8 And it came to pass² on the morrow,º² when the Philistinesº cameºª to stripºª² the slain,º that they foundºª² Saulº and his threeº sonsº fallenºª in mountº Gilboa.º 9 And they cut offºª² his head,º and stripped offºª² his armour,º and sentºª into the landº of the Philistinesº round about,º to publishºª [it in] the houseº of their idols,º and among² the people.º 10 And they putºª² his armourº in the houseº of Ashtaroth:ºª¹ and they fastenedºª his bodyº to the wallº of Bethshan.º

They of Jabesh-gilead, recovering the bodies by night, burn them at Jabesh, and mournfully bury their bones.

11 ¶ And when the inhabitantsºª of Jabeshgileadºº heardºª²² of that which² the Philistinesº had doneºª to Saul;º 12 All² the valiantº menºª¹ arose,ºª and went¹ª² all² night,º and tookºª² the bodyº of Saulº and the bodiesº of his sonsº from the wallº² of Bethshan,º and cameºª to Jabesh,º and burntºª them there.² 13 And they tookºª² their bones,º and buriedºª [them] under² a treeº at Jabesh,º and fastedºª sevenº days.º