31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels 1 of Saul and his sons. They 2 struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 31:3 Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; 3 the archers 4 spotted him and wounded him severely.
31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 31:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. 31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 5
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 6
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
35:5 “‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword 7 at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.
1 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
2 tn Heb “the Philistines.”
3 tn Heb “and the battle was heavy against Saul.”
4 tn Heb “the shooters, men with the bow.”
5 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
6 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
7 tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.