A man came along who was a soldier for Israel, but from another country. He saw that Saul was dead, so he took the king’s crown off his head so he could take it to David.

When the people who lived in that area saw the total destruction of Saul’s army, they left their cities and ran for their lives. The Philistines entered those cities and took them over.

The next day, they went back into the field to plunder the dead bodies. That was when they found Saul and his sons. They cut off Saul’s head and hung his body from a city wall. They then hung the bodies of his sons next to him. They sent his armor back to their country and put it in the temple of their gods. News of Saul’s death spread throughout their country. 

 Back when Saul became king, his first act was to rescue a city being threatened by the Ammonites. They had said they were going to gouge out the right eye of everyone in the city. When that city heard about Saul’s body hanging from a wall, they traveled all night to get to it. They took it down from the wall, as well as the bodies of his sons. Once they buried them, they fasted for seven days.

The man with Saul’s crown went to Ziklag to tell David about the death of King Saul and his sons. David said, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan are dead?”

A man said, “I was walking through the battlefield when the king saw me. He yelled, ‘Come over here and kill me with your sword. These ungodly dogs will be here in a few minutes. If they find me alive, they’ll torture me.’ So I did as I was told. I took my sword and killed him. I then brought his crown to you.”

David ripped his clothes and cried out in pain. He and his men mourned the death of Saul and Jonathan. David then said to the man who came with the news. “You’ve admitted that you killed the Lord’s anointed.” He turned to one of his men. “Pull out your sword and kill this man.”

David continued to mourn the death of King Saul and Jonathan.