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.
O Suicídio de Saul
1E aconteceu que, em combate com os filisteus, os israelitas foram postos em fuga, e muitos caíram mortos no monte Gilboa. 2Os filisteus perseguiram Saul e seus filhos e mataram Jônatas, Abinadabe e Malquisua, filhos de Saul. 3O combate foi ficando cada vez mais violento em torno de Saul, até que os flecheiros o alcançaram e feriram gravemente.
4Então Saul ordenou ao seu escudeiro: “Tire sua espada e mate-me, senão sofrerei a vergonha de cair nas mãos desses incircuncisos”.
Mas o seu escudeiro estava apavorado e não quis fazê-lo. Saul, então, apanhou a própria espada e jogou-se sobre ela. 5Quando o escudeiro viu que Saul estava morto, jogou-se também sobre sua espada e morreu. 6Dessa maneira Saul e seus três filhos morreram e, assim, toda a descendência real.
7Quando os israelitas que habitavam no vale viram que o exército tinha fugido e que Saul e seus filhos estavam mortos, fugiram, abandonando suas cidades. Depois os filisteus foram ocupá-las.
8No dia seguinte, quando os filisteus foram saquear os mortos, encontraram Saul e seus filhos caídos no monte Gilboa. 9Cortaram a cabeça de Saul, pegaram suas armas e enviaram mensageiros por toda a terra dos filisteus proclamando a notícia entre os seus ídolos e o seu povo. 10Expuseram suas armas num dos templos dos seus deuses e penduraram sua cabeça no templo de Dagom.
11Quando os habitantes de Jabes-Gileade ficaram sabendo o que os filisteus haviam feito com Saul, 12os mais corajosos dentre eles foram e apanharam os corpos de Saul e de seus filhos e os levaram a Jabes. Lá sepultaram seus ossos sob a Grande Árvore e jejuaram por sete dias.
13Saul morreu dessa forma porque foi infiel ao Senhor, não foi obediente à palavra do Senhor e chegou a consultar uma médium em busca de orientação, 14em vez de consultar o Senhor. Por isso o Senhor o entregou à morte e deu o reino a Davi, filho de Jessé.
