Ɔhene Saulo Owuo
1Afei, Filistifoɔ no bɛto hyɛɛ Israel so, ma Israelfoɔ no dwaneeɛ. Wɔkunkumm wɔn mu pii wɔ bepɔ Gilboa so. 2Filistifoɔ no kaa Saulo ne ne mmammarima hyɛeɛ. Wɔkunkumm wɔn mu baasa a wɔn ne Yonatan, Abinadab ne Malki-Sua. 3Ɔko no ano yɛɛ den wɔ Saulo ho hyiaaɛ, ma Filistifoɔ agyantofoɔ no nyaa Saulo piraa no yie.
4Saulo firi apenesie mu ka kyerɛɛ nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no sɛ, “Twe wʼakofena, na fa wɔ me kum me na Filistifoɔ abosonsomfoɔ yi ammɛto me, angu mʼanim ase.”
Nanso, na nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no suro enti, wanyɛ saa. Enti, Saulo twee ɔno ara nʼakofena, de kumm ne ho. 5Ɛberɛ a nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no hunuu sɛ Saulo awuo no, ɔno nso de nʼakofena kumm ne ho. 6Ɛno enti, Saulo ne ne mmammarima baasa no wuwuu wɔ hɔ ara, ma nʼahennie nnidisoɔ no baa awieeɛ.
7Ɛberɛ a Israelfoɔ a wɔwɔ Yesreel bɔnhwa no mu no hunuu sɛ wɔadi wɔn akodɔm no so, na Saulo ne ne mmammarima baasa no awuwu no, wɔdwane gyaa wɔn nkuro hɔ. Ɛno enti, Filistifoɔ no kɔfaa wɔn nkuro no.
8Adeɛ kyeeɛ a Filistifoɔ no kɔɔ sɛ wɔrekɔyiyi atɔfoɔ no ho nneɛma no, wɔhunuu sɛ Saulo ne ne mmammarima no amu gugu bepɔ Gilboa so. 9Enti, wɔyiyii Saulo akodeɛ firii ne ho, twaa ne ti. Afei wɔbɔɔ Saulo wuo no ho dawuro, maa wɔn ahoni ne nnipa a wɔwɔ Filistia nyinaa teeɛ. 10Wɔde nʼakodeɛ no guu wɔn anyame no abosonnan mu, na wɔkyekyeree ne ti no fam Dagon asɔredan no ɔfasuo ho.
11Nanso, Yabes Gileadfoɔ tee deɛ Filistifoɔ ayɛ Saulo no, 12wɔn akofoɔ kɔfaa Saulo ne ne mmammarima baasa no amu baa Yabes. Na wɔsiee wɔn amu wɔ odum dua bi a ɛwɔ Yabes ase, na wɔdii mmuada nnanson.
13Na Saulo wuiɛ, ɛfiri sɛ, wanni Awurade nokorɛ. Wanni Awurade ahyɛdeɛ so, na mpo, ɔkɔɔ asamanfrɛ, 14wɔ ɛberɛ a anka ɛsɛ sɛ ɔbisa akwankyerɛ firi Awurade hɔ. Ɛno enti, Awurade kumm no, de nʼahennie hyɛɛ Yisai babarima Dawid nsa.
Saul Takes His Own Life
1The Philistines fought against Israel. The men of Israel ran away from them. But many Israelites were killed on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines kept chasing Saul and his sons. They killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3The fighting was heavy around Saul. Men armed with bows and arrows caught up with him. They shot their arrows at him and wounded him badly.
4Saul spoke to the man who was carrying his armor. He said, “Pull out your sword and stick it through me. If you don’t, these men who aren’t circumcised will come and hurt me badly.”
But the man was terrified. He wouldn’t do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5The man saw that Saul was dead. So he fell on his own sword and died. 6Saul and his three sons died. All of them died together.
7All the Israelites who lived in the valley saw that their army had run away. They saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So the Israelites left their towns and ran away. Then the Philistines came and lived in them.
8The day after the Philistines had won the battle, they came to take what they wanted from the dead bodies. They found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. 9So they took what they wanted from Saul’s body. They cut off his head and took his armor. Then they sent messengers through the whole land of the Philistines. They announced the news to the statues of their gods. They also announced it among their people. 10They put Saul’s armor in the temple of their gods. They hung up his head in the temple of their god Dagon.
11The people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 12So all the brave men of Jabesh Gilead went and got the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried the bones of Saul and his sons under the great tree that was there. They didn’t eat anything for seven days.
13Saul died because he wasn’t faithful to the Lord. He didn’t obey the word of the Lord. He even asked for advice from a person who gets messages from people who have died. 14He didn’t ask the Lord for advice. So the Lord put him to death. He turned the kingdom over to David. David was the son of Jesse.
