1 Samuel 31:9
New International Version
They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people.

New Living Translation
So they cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor. Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul’s death in their pagan temple and to the people throughout the land of Philistia.

English Standard Version
So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

Berean Standard Bible
They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.

King James Bible
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

New King James Version
And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people.

New American Standard Bible
They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to bring the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

NASB 1995
They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

NASB 1977
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then they cut off his head and stripped off his weapons and sent them all around the land of the Philistines, to proclaim the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

Amplified Bible
So they cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his weapons and armor and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to bring the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

Christian Standard Bible
They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news in the temples of their idols and among the people.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news in the temples of their idols and among the people.

American Standard Version
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto the house of their idols, and to the people.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they cut off his head and they stripped his garments and they sent to proclaim the news in the land of the Philistines, and among the people, and in the house of their idols

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they turned him, and stripped off his armour, and sent it into the land of the Philistines, sending round glad tidings to their idols and to the people.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they cut off Saul's head, and stripped him of his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the temples of their idols, and among their people.

English Revised Version
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto the house of their idols, and to the people.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent men throughout Philistine territory to tell the people this good news in their idols' temples.

Good News Translation
They cut off Saul's head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers with them throughout Philistia to tell the good news to their idols and to their people.

International Standard Version
They cut off his head and stripped him of his weapons. They sent people throughout the territory of the Philistines to report the good news in the temples of their idols and to the people.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto the house of their idols, and to the people.

Literal Standard Version
and they cut off his head, and strip off his weapons, and send [them] into the land of the surrounding Philistines, to proclaim tidings [in] the house of their idols, and [among] the people;

Majority Standard Bible
They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.

New American Bible
They cut off Saul’s head and stripped him of his armor; these they sent throughout the land of the Philistines to bring the good news to the temple of their idols and to the people.

NET Bible
They cut off Saul's head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines.

New Revised Standard Version
They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the people.

New Heart English Bible
They cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to their idols, and to the people.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

World English Bible
They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols and to the people.

Young's Literal Translation
and they cut off his head, and strip off his weapons, and send into the land of the Philistines round about, to proclaim tidings in the house of their idols, and among the people;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Philistines Possess the Towns
8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. 10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.…

Cross References
Judges 16:23
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands."

Judges 16:24
And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead."

1 Samuel 31:8
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

2 Samuel 1:20
Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

1 Chronicles 10:9
They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people.


Treasury of Scripture

And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

cut off

1 Samuel 31:4
Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

1 Samuel 17:51,54
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled…

1 Chronicles 10:9,10
And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people…

to publish

Judges 16:23,24
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand…

2 Samuel 1:20
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

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Announce Armor Armour Carry Cut Cutting Glad Gods Good Head House Idols Messengers News Philistines Proclaim Publish Round Strip Stripped Temple Throughout Tidings War-Dress Weapons Word
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Announce Armor Armour Carry Cut Cutting Glad Gods Good Head House Idols Messengers News Philistines Proclaim Publish Round Strip Stripped Temple Throughout Tidings War-Dress Weapons Word
1 Samuel 31
1. Saul, having lost his army, and his sons slain,
4. he and his armor bearer kill themselves.
7. The Philistines possess the forsaken towns of the Israelites
8. They triumph over the dead bodies
11. They of Jabesh Gilead recovering the dead bodies by night,
12. burn them at Jabesh,
13. and mournfully bury their bodies.














(9) And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour.--Only Saul's head and armour is mentioned here, but on comparing 1Samuel 31:12, where the bodies of his sons are especially mentioned, it is clear that this act was not confined to the person of the king. The sense of the passage there is, the heads of the king and his three sons were cut off, and their armour stripped from their bodies. The heads and armour were sent as trophies round about the different towns and villages of Philistia, and the headless corpses were fastened to the wall of the city of Beth-shan.

Verses 9, 10. - They cut off his head. This was probably done not simply in retaliation for what had happened to their champion Goliath, but in accordance with the customs of ancient warfare. The fierce joy of the Philistines over the fallen Saul proves how great had been their fear of him, and how successful he had been in breaking their yoke off Israel's neck. Had he still had David with him the victory would assuredly have remained on his side. They put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth. Hebrew, "of the Ashtaroth." Whether it was divided among the various shrines of Astarte, or whether it was all placed in her famous temple at Askelon, described by Herodotus (1:105) as the most ancient of the fanes of the Syrian Venus, is uncertain. The former view agrees best with the Hebrew text and with what is said in 1 Chronicles 10:10, where we have the additional information that they suspended Saul's head in the temple of Dagon. They fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan, as also the bodies of his sons (ver. 12). Beth-shan or Scythopolis lies about four miles from the Jordan on the west, and twelve miles south of the lake of Tiberias. It is almost in a straight line to the west of Mahanaim, and must have been at once occupied by the Philistines, and as they hung the bodies of the fallen king and his sons on its wall, they evidently intended to retain it. RECOVERY OF THE BODIES OF SAUL AND HIS SONS (vers. 11-13).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
They cut off
וַֽיִּכְרְתוּ֙ (way·yiḵ·rə·ṯū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

Saul’s head,
רֹאשׁ֔וֹ (rō·šōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7218: The head

stripped off
וַיַּפְשִׁ֖יטוּ (way·yap̄·šî·ṭū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 6584: To strip off, make a dash, raid

his armor,
כֵּלָ֑יו (kê·lāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3627: Something prepared, any apparatus

and sent
וַיְשַׁלְּח֨וּ (way·šal·lə·ḥū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

messengers throughout the land
בְאֶֽרֶץ־ (ḇə·’e·reṣ-)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of the Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֜ים (pə·liš·tîm)
Noun - proper - masculine plural
Strong's 6430: Philistines -- inhabitants of Philistia

to proclaim the news
לְבַשֵּׂ֛ר (lə·ḇaś·śêr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1319: To be fresh, full, cheerful), to announce

in the temples
בֵּ֥ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of their idols
עֲצַבֵּיהֶ֖ם (‘ă·ṣab·bê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 6091: An, image

and among their people.
הָעָֽם׃ (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock


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OT History: 1 Samuel 31:9 They cut off his head and stripped (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 31:8
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