1 Entretanto os filisteus pelejavam contra Israel; os homens de Israel fugiram de diante dos filisteus, e caíram mortos no monte de Gilboa.2 Os filisteus seguiram de perto a Saul e a seus filhos, e mataram a Jônatas, a Abinadabe e a Malquisua, filhos de Saul.3 A peleja agravou-se contra Saul, e alcançaram-no os flecheiros, que o feriram mui gravemente.4 Então disse Saul ao seu escudeiro: Desembainha a tua espada e atravessa-me com ela, para que não venham estes incircuncidados e me traspassem e escarneçam de mim. Mas o seu escudeiro não o quis fazer, pois teve muito medo. Tomou Saul a sua espada e deixou-se cair sobre ela.5 Quando o seu escudeiro viu que Saul era morto, lançou-se ele também sobre a espada, e morreu com ele.6 Morreram juntamente naquele dia Saul e seus três filhos e o seu escudeiro, e todos os que se achavam com ele.7 Vendo os de Israel que estavam da banda dalém do vale e além do Jordão, que os homens de Israel fugiram, e que Saul e seus filhos eram mortos, desampararam as suas cidades e fugiram. Vieram os filisteus e habitaram nelas.8 Quando ao outro dia foram os filisteus despojar os mortos, acharam a Saul e a seus três filhos estirados no monte Gilboa.9 Cortaram a cabeça a Saul e despojaram-no das suas armas; enviaram por toda a terra dos filisteus para que se levasse a notícia à casa dos seus ídolos e ao povo.10 Puseram as armas de Saul no templo de Astarote, e penduraram o seu corpo no muro de Bete-Seã.11 Quando os habitantes de Jabes-Gileade ouviram o que os filisteus tinham feito a Saul,12 levantaram-se todos os valentes e caminhando a noite toda tiraram do muro de Bete-Seã o cadáver de Saul e os cadáveres de seus filhos; voltaram a Jabes, e ali os queimaram.13 Tomaram-lhes os ossos, sepultaram-nos debaixo da tamargueira em Jabes e jejuaram sete dias.

1 When the Philistines fought Israel, the men of Israel fled from the Philistines and were killed in battle on Mount Gilboa.2 The Philistines caught up to Saul and his sons. They killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.3 The heaviest fighting was against Saul. When the archers got him in their range, he was badly wounded by them.4 He said to the young man carrying his weapons: »Draw your sword and kill me. That way these godless Philistines will not gloat over me and kill me.« But the young man was too terrified to do it. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it.5 The young man saw that Saul was dead. Then he too threw himself on his own sword and died with Saul.6 That is how Saul, his three sons, and the young man died. All of Saul’s men died that day.7 The Israelites on the other side of Jezreel Valley and east of the Jordan River heard that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had been killed. They abandoned their towns and fled. Then the Philistines came and occupied the towns.8 The next day the Philistines came to strip the dead. They found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa.9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent men throughout Philistine territory to tell the people this good news in their idols’ temples.10 They put his armor in the temple of their goddesses the Asherahs and fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan.11 The people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.12 All the fighting men marched all night and took the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They came back to Jabesh and burned the bodies.13 They buried the bones under a small tree in Jabesh. Then for seven days, they went without eating to show their sorrow.