Passage

1 Samuel 31

Book: 1 Samuel · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4. Then said Saul to his armorbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. 5. And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died with him. 6. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armorbearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9. 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. 10. And they put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, 12. all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13. And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days." (1 Samuel 31:1-13, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. 2. The Philistines overtook Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3. The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4. Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 6. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7. When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them. 8. On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9. 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. 10. They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 11. When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12. all the valiant men arose, went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burned them there. 13. They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days." (1 Samuel 31:1-13, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. ^{slain: or, wounded} 2. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. 3. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. ^{and the archers: Heb. and the shooters, men with bows} ^{hit: Heb. found him} 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. ^{abuse: or, mock me} 5. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9. 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. 10. And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. 11. And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; ^{of that: or, concerning him that} 12. All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days." (1 Samuel 31:1-13, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And the Philistines are fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel flee from the face of the Philistines, and fall wounded in mount Gilboa, 2. and the Philistines follow Saul and his sons, and the Philistines smite Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul. 3. And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him, men with bow, and he is pained greatly by the archers; 4. and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, 'Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come, these uncircumcised, and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;' and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it. 5. And the bearer of his weapons seeth that Saul [is] dead, and he falleth, he also, on his sword, and dieth with him; 6. and Saul dieth, and three of his sons, and the bearer of his weapons, also all his men, on that day together. 7. And they see, the men of Israel, who [are] beyond the valley, and who [are] beyond the Jordan, that the men of Israel have fled, and that Saul and his sons have died, and they forsake the cities and flee, and Philistines come in, and dwell in them. 8. And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the Philistines come to strip the wounded, and they find Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa, 9. 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; 10. and they place his weapons [in] the house of Ashtaroth, and his body they have fixed on the wall of Beth-Shan. 11. And they hear regarding it, the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, that which the Philistines have done to Saul, 12. and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there, 13. and they take their bones, and bury [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days." (1 Samuel 31:1-13, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

David

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.