1 Samuel 31:7-13 ▼

7 When the men of Israel who were across the valley and who were across the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled, and the Philistines came and occupied them.

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

9 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.

10 They put Saul's weapons in the temple of Asherah and fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth-shan.

11 When the residents of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

12 every valiant soldier got up, traveled all night, and removed Saul's body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. Then they went to Jabesh and cremated the bodies there.

13 They took their bones, buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.