Chapter 31

  And the Philistines are fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel flee from the face of the Philistines, and fall wounded in mount Gilboa,  

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  and the Philistines follow Saul and his sons, and the Philistines smite Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul.  

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  And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him -- men with bow -- and he is pained greatly by the archers;  

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  and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, 'Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come -- these uncircumcised -- and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;' and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it.  

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  And the bearer of his weapons seeth that Saul [is] dead, and he falleth -- he also -- on his sword, and dieth with him;  

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  and Saul dieth, and three of his sons, and the bearer of his weapons, also all his men, on that day together.  

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  And they see -- the men of Israel, who [are] beyond the valley, and who [are] beyond the Jordan -- that the men of Israel have fled, and that Saul and his sons have died, and they forsake the cities and flee, and Philistines come in, and dwell in them.  

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  And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the Philistines come to strip the wounded, and they find Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa,  

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  and they cut off his head, and strip off his weapons, and send into the land of the Philistines round about, to proclaim tidings [in] the house of their idols, and [among] the people;  

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  and they place his weapons [in] the house of Ashtaroth, and his body they have fixed on the wall of Beth-Shan.  

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  And they hear regarding it -- the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead -- that which the Philistines have done to Saul,  

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  and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there,  

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  and they take their bones, and bury [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.  

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