1 Chronicles 10:10-14
10:10 They placed his armor in the temple of their gods
1 and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.
10:11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul,
10:12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons
2 and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains
3 under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.
10:13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits. 4
10:14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord 5 killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
1 tn Or “god.” The Hebrew term may be translated as singular or plural depending on the context.
2 tn Heb “arose and carried away the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons.”
3 tn Heb “their bones.”
4 tn Heb “and Saul died because of his unfaithfulness by which he acted unfaithfully against the Lord, concerning the word of the Lord which he did not keep, also to Saul, a ritual pit to seek.” The text alludes to the incident recorded in 1 Sam 28. The Hebrew term אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת־אוֹב (ba’alat-’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. A. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew áo‚b,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.