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.
Sauli Adzipha Yekha
1Tsono Afilisti anachitanso nkhondo ndi Aisraeli ndipo Aisraeli anathawa Afilistiwo, kotero kuti ambiri anaphedwa pa phiri la Gilibowa. 2Afilisti anapanikiza kwambiri Sauli ndi ana ake, ndipo anapha Yonatani, Abinadabu ndi Maliki-Suwa. 3Nkhondo inakula kwambiri mozungulira Sauli ndipo pamene anthu amauta anamupeza, anamuvulaza.
4Tsono Sauli anawuza mnyamata wake wonyamula zida zake kuti, “Solola lupanga lako undiphe, kuopa kuti anthu osachita mdulidwewa angabwere ndi kudzandizunza ine.”
Koma mnyamata wonyamula zida uja anachita mantha kwambiri ndipo sanathe kutero. Choncho Sauli anatenga lupanga lake lomwe nagwerapo. 5Mnyamata wonyamula zida zake uja ataona kuti Sauli wafa, nayenso anadzigwetsera pa lupanga lake nafa. 6Motero Sauli ndi ana ake atatu anafa, pamodzi ndi banja lake lonse anafera limodzi.
7Pamene Aisraeli onse amene anali mʼchigwa anaona kuti gulu lankhondo lathawa komanso kuti Sauli ndi ana ake aphedwa, nawonso anathawa kusiya mizinda yawo. Ndipo Afilisti anabwera kudzakhalamo.
8Mmawa mwake, Afilisti atabwera kudzatenga zinthu za anthu ophedwa, anapeza Sauli ndi ana ake atafa pa phiri la Gilibowa. 9Iwo anamuvula zovala zake, natenga mutu wake ndi zida zake zankhondo. Ndipo anatumiza amithenga mʼdziko lonse la Afilisti kukafalitsa nkhani yabwinoyi kwa mafano awo ndi kwa anthu awo. 10Iwo anayika zida zake zankhondo mʼnyumba zopembedzera milungu yawo ndipo anapachika mutu wake mʼnyumba ya Dagoni.
11Pamene anthu onse okhala ku Yabesi Giliyadi anamva zimene Afilisti anachitira Sauli, 12anthu awo onse olimba mtima anapita kukatenga mitembo ya Sauli ndi ana ake ndipo anabwera nayo ku Yabesi. Anakwirira mafupa awo pansi pa mtengo wabwemba ku Yabesi, ndipo anasala kudya masiku asanu ndi awiri.
13Sauli anafa chifukwa anali wosakhulupirika pamaso pa Yehova. Iye sanasunge mawu a Yehova, pakuti anakafunsira nzeru kwa woyankhula ndi mizimu ya anthu akufa, 14sanafunsire nzeruzo kwa Yehova. Choncho Yehova anamupha ndi kupereka ufumu kwa Davide mwana wa Yese.
