10 Now the Philistines fought against Yisrael and the Israeli men fled away from the Philistines, and many were killed on Mt. Gilboa. 2 Then the Philistines pursued after Shaul and after his sons, and they killed his sons Yonatan, Avinadav, and Malki-Shua. 3 The battle against Shaul was very fierce, but then the archers spotted him and wounded him. 4 Then Shaul said to his equipment carrier, “Draw your sword and pierce me with it, so those uncircumcised Philistines can’t come here and torture me.” But his equipment carrier was very scared and wasn’t willing to do it, so Shaul took his sword and fell onto it. 5 Then his equipment carrier, seeing that King Shaul had died, he himself fell on his sword and died. 6 So Shaul 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 Shaul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came, and they lived in them instead.

8 The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Shaul and his sons on Mt. Gilboa. 9 They stripped him and carried away his head and his armour. Then they sent messengers all around the Philistine 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 that the Philistines had done to Shaul, 12 all the strong men took action and retrieved the corpses of Shaul and his sons, and brought them back to Yavesh. Then they buried them under the large tree in Yavesh, and they fasted seven days. 13 So Shaul died because of his disobedience—when he was unfaithful to Yahweh by not following Yahweh’s instructions, and also because he consulted medium for guidance[ref] 14 instead of requesting Yahweh’s advice. So Yahweh killed him and handed the kingdom over to Yishay’s son David.