1Ch 10 | EE | STEP | The Philistines fought against Israel. But the Israelites ran from the Philistines. The Philistines killed many Israelites on the mountain called Gilboa.

1 Chronicles 10

Saul fights the Philistines

1 The Philistines fought against Israel. But the Israelites ran from the Philistines. The Philistines killed many Israelites on the mountain called Gilboa. 2 The Philistines fought well against Saul and his sons. They killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua. 3 The fight was difficult round Saul. The soldiers with bows shot Saul and they hurt him badly. ^{▼▼10:3 The Philistines were a group of people that lived to the south-west of Israel.}

Saul kills himself and his sons die

4 Then Saul said to the soldier who carried his shield, ‘Kill me with your sword. If you do not kill me, these Philistines will be cruel to me. Then they will kill me. They are not like us because nobody has circumcised them.’ But the soldier would not do it because he was very afraid. So, Saul got his own sword and he fell on it. 5 The soldier saw that Saul was dead. So, the soldier fell on his own sword and he died too. 6 So, Saul died with his three sons. Saul and his whole family died together.

Philistines come to live in Israel

7 All the Israelites in the valley saw that their army had run away. And they saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So, they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in those towns.

The Philistines put Saul’s head in their temple

8 On the next day, the Philistines came to take clothes and things from the dead soldiers. They found the dead bodies of Saul and his sons on the mountain called Gilboa. 9 The Philistines stripped Saul’s dead body. They took his head and his armour. Then they sent men through all their country. They went to tell the news about Saul’s death. They told the news in front of their false gods. And then those men told the news to all the people. 10 The Philistines had a temple for their false gods. They put Saul’s armour there. And they had another temple for their false god called Dagon. They hung Saul’s head there.

The men from Jabesh-Gilead bury the dead bodies of Saul and his sons

11 Someone told all the people in Jabesh-Gilead about what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12 So, all the brave men from Jabesh went. They took the dead bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought the bodies to Jabesh and they buried the bones under the large tree there. Then the people in Jabesh refused food. They did not eat for 7 days.

Why Saul died

13 Saul died because of his sin against the LORD. He did not obey the LORD. Saul wanted to speak to a dead person. He even visited a woman who used bad spirits. He wanted to know what he should do. 14 He should have asked the LORD but he did not ask the LORD. So, the LORD caused his death and the LORD gave the kingdom to Jesse’s son, David.