1: The Philistines went to war against Israel; the Israelites ran for their lives from the Philistines but fell, slaughtered on Mount Gilboa.
2: The Philistines zeroed in on Saul and his sons and killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.
3: The battle went hard against Saul--the archers found him and wounded him.
4: Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and finish me off before these pagan pigs get to me and make a sport of my body." But his armor bearer, restrained by both reverence and fear, wouldn't do it. So Saul took his own sword and killed himself.
5: The armor bearer, panicked because Saul was dead, then killed himself.
6: So Saul and his three sons--all four the same day--died.
7: When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and ran off; the Philistines came and moved in.
8: The next day the Philistines came to plunder the dead bodies and found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa.
9: They stripped Saul, removed his head and his armor, and put them on exhibit throughout Philistia, reporting the victory news to their idols and the people.
10: Then they put Saul's armor on display in the temple of their gods and placed his skull as a trophy in the temple of their god Dagon.
11: The people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.
12: All of their fighting men went into action--retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh, gave them a dignified burial under the oak at Jabesh, and mourned their deaths for seven days.
13: Saul died in disobedience, disobedient to GOD. He didn't obey GOD's words. Instead of praying, he went to a witch to seek guidance.
14: Because he didn't go to GOD for help, GOD took his life and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.