3 The fighting was heavy round Saul, and he was hit by enemy arrows and badly wounded.
4 He said to the young man carrying his weapons, “Draw your sword and kill me, to keep these godless Philistines from gloating over me.” But the young man was too terrified to do it. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it.
5 The young man saw that Saul was dead, so he too threw himself on his sword and died.
6 So Saul and his three sons all died together and none of his descendants ever ruled.
7 When the Israelites who lived in the Valley of Jezreel heard that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and ran off. Then the Philistines came and occupied them.
8 The day after the battle, the Philistines went to plunder the corpses, and they found the bodies of Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
9 They cut off Saul's head, stripped off his armour, and sent messengers with them throughout Philistia to tell the good news to their idols and to their people.