10 Now the Pelishtim fought against Yisrael (Israel), and the Israeli men fled away from the Pelishtim, and many were killed on Mt. Gilboa. 2 Then the Pelishtim pursued Sha’ul (Saul) and his sons, and they killed his sons Yonatan (Jonathan), Avinadav, and Malkishua. 3 The battle against Sha’ul was very fierce, and then the archers spotted him and wounded him. 4 Then Sha’ul said to his equipment carrier, “Draw your sword and pierce me with it, so those uncircumcised Pelishtim can’t come here and torture me.” But his equipment carrier was very scared and wasn’t willing to do it, so Sha’ul took his sword and fell onto it. 5 Then his equipment carrier, seeing that King Sha’ul had died, also fell on his sword and died. 6 So Sha’ul and his three sons died, thus ending his family’s rule. 7 When all the Israelis living in the valley saw that the army had fled, and that Sha’ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Pelishtim came, and they lived there instead.

8 The next day, when the Pelishtim came to strip the dead, they found Sha’ul and his sons’ bodies on Mt. Gilboa. 9 They stripped him and carried away his head and his armour. Then they sent messengers all around the Pelishti regions to take the news to their idols and the people. 10 They put his armour in the temple of their gods, and they hung his head in their god Dagon’s temple. 11 When everyone who lived back in Yavesh in the Gilead region heard about everything the Pelishtim had done to Sha’ul, 12 all the strong men took action and retrieved the corpses of Sha’ul and his sons, and brought them back to Yavesh. Then they buried them under the large tree in Yavesh, and they fasted for seven days. 13 So Sha’ul died because of his disobedience—when he was unfaithful to Yahweh by not following Yahweh’s instructions,[ref] and also because he consulted a medium for guidance[ref] 14 instead of requesting Yahweh’s advice. So Yahweh killed him and handed the kingdom over to Yishay’s (Jesse) son David.