| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. | 1The Philistines fought against Israel, and Israel's men fled from them and were killed on Mount Gilboa. |
| 2And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. | 2The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons and killed Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. |
| 3And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. | 3When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers found him and severely wounded him. |
| 4Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. | 4Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and torture me!" But his armor-bearer wouldn't do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it. |
| 5And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died. | 5When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died. |
| 6So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together. | 6So Saul and his three sons died--his whole house died together. |
| 7And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. | 7When all the men of Israel in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. So the Philistines came and settled in them. |
| 8And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa. | 8The next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. |
| 9And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people. | 9They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news to their idols and their people. |
| 10And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. | 10Then they put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung his skull in the temple of Dagon. |
| 11And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, | 11When all Jabesh-gilead heard of everything the Philistines had done to Saul, |
| 12They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. | 12all their brave men set out and retrieved the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days. |
| 13So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; | 13Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD because he did not keep the LORD's word. He even consulted a medium for guidance, |
| 14And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse. | 14but he did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse. |
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