1. The Philistines fought against Israel in a battle at Mount Gilboa. Israel's soldiers ran from the Philistines, and many of them were killed.
2. The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons and killed three of them: Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.
3. The fighting was fierce around Saul, and he was badly wounded by enemy arrows.
4. Saul told the soldier who carried his weapons, “Kill me with your sword! I don't want those godless Philistines to torture and make fun of me.”But the soldier was afraid to kill him. Then Saul stuck himself in the stomach with his own sword and fell on the blade.
5. When the soldier realized that Saul was dead, he killed himself in the same way.
6. Saul, three of his sons, and all his male relatives were dead.
7. The Israelites who lived in Jezreel Valley learnt that their army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead. They ran away too, and the Philistines moved into the towns the Israelites left behind.