10:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 10:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels of 1 Saul and his sons. They 2 struck down Saul’s 3 sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 10:3 The battle was thick 4 around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him. 5 10:4 Saul told his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me.” 6 But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
1 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
2 tn Heb “the Philistines.” The translation has substituted the pronoun “they” to avoid redundancy.
3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “heavy.”
5 tn Heb “and they found him, the ones who shoot with the bow, and he was in pain from the ones shooting.”
6 tn Heb “so these uncircumcised ones might not come and abuse me.”