1 Chronicles 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

The Philistines went to war against Israel, and the men of Israel ran from the Philistines and fell dead on Mount Gilboa.

The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua — Saul's sons.

The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him and wounded him.

Saul told his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and abuse me." But his armor-bearer wouldn't do it — he was too terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died.

So Saul died — he and his three sons and his entire household. They all died together.

When all the men of Israel in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and ran. Then the Philistines came and occupied them.

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

They stripped him, took his head and his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the news to their idols and to the people.

They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.

When everyone in Jabesh-gilead heard everything the Philistines had done to Saul,

all their warriors went and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought them to Jabesh, buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

Saul died because of his unfaithfulness — he was unfaithful to Yahweh. He did not keep Yahweh's word, and he even consulted a medium to seek guidance,

instead of seeking guidance from Yahweh. So Yahweh put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.