1 Chronicles 10:1-4

Saul’s Death

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.

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

[10:2]  ² tn Heb “the Philistines.” The translation has substituted the pronoun “they” to avoid redundancy.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “heavy.”

[10:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they found him, the ones who shoot with the bow, and he was in pain from the ones shooting.”

[10:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “so these uncircumcised ones might not come and abuse me.”