Saulo Owuo
1Afei, Filistifoɔ no ko tiaa Israel. Israelfoɔ no dwanee wɔ wɔn anim, na wɔkunkumm pii wɔ Gilboa bepɔ so. 2Filistifoɔ no kɔɔ Saulo ne ne mmammarima so, kunkumm wɔn mu baasa a ɛyɛ Yonatan, Abinadab ne Malki-Sua. 3Ɔko no mu yɛɛ den wɔ baabi a na Saulo wɔ hɔ. Filistifoɔ agyantofoɔ no bɛn no, na wɔpiraa no kɛse pa ara.
4Saulo firi yea mu ka kyerɛɛ nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no sɛ, “Twe wo akofena no, na fa wɔ me, na wɔn a wɔntwaa twetia no amfa wɔn akofena ammɛwɔ me, angu mʼanim ase.”
Na nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no suroo sɛ ɔbɛyɛ saa. Enti, Saulo twee ɔno ankasa akofena sinaa ne ho wɔ so. 5Ɛberɛ a nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ no hunuu sɛ wawuo no, ɔno nso sinaa ne ho wɔ nʼankasa akofena no so, na ɔwu daa ne ho. 6Enti, Saulo ne ne mma mmarima baasa, nʼakodeɛkurafoɔ ne nʼakodɔm nyinaa totɔɔ saa ɛda no.
7Ɛberɛ a Israelfoɔ a wɔwɔ Yesreel bɔnhwa no fa baabi ne Yordan agya no hunuu sɛ Israel akodɔm no adi nkoguo, na Saulo nso ne ne mmammarima no nso atotɔ no, wɔgyaa wɔn nkuro hɔ dwaneeɛ. Na Filistifoɔ no bɛtenaa hɔ.
8Adeɛ kyeeɛ a Filistifoɔ kɔyiyii atɔfoɔ no ho no, wɔhunuu Saulo ne ne mmammarima baasa no amu wɔ Gilboa bepɔ so. 9Enti, wɔtwaa Saulo ti, yiyii nʼakodeɛ nyinaa. Afei, wɔbɔɔ Saulo wuo no dawuro wɔ wɔn abosomfie, ne ɔman no mu nyinaa. 10Wɔde nʼakodeɛ no kɔguu Astoret asɔreeɛ so, na wɔkyekyeree nʼamu no fam kuropɔn Bet-San ɔfasuo ho.
11Na Yabes Gileadfoɔ tee deɛ Filistifoɔ ayɛ Saulo no, 12wɔn akofoɔ twaa ɛkwan anadwo mu no nyinaa kɔɔ Bet-San kɔfaa Saulo ne ne mmammarima baasa no amu firii ɔfasuo no ho. Wɔde kɔɔ Yabes bɛhyee wɔn. 13Afei, wɔfaa wɔn nnompe kɔkoraa no odum dua no ase wɔ Yabes, na wɔdii mmuada nnanson.
Saul takes his life
1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
4Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.’
But the armour-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together that same day.
7When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.
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 his head and stripped off his armour, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. 10They put his armour in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
11When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. 13Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
