Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 10:12
all their men of valor set out and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Men of Jabesh-gilead act after hearing the Philistines' treatment of Saul and his sons. They retrieve the corpses and bring them to their city for burial.
The words — The text records וַיָּקֻמוּ (va.ya.qu) meaning "they arose" and גּוּפַת (gu.phat) meaning "corpse," describing a physical mobilization to recover the dead.
The thread — This burial under an oak in Jabesh echoes the oak burial in Genesis 35:8 and is later referenced when David retrieves the same bones in 2 Samuel 21:12.
Why it lands — The passage records honorable burial practices despite the narrator's immediate prior statement that Saul died due to unfaithfulness in 1 Chronicles 10:13. It requires readers to separate the treatment of the dead from the theological judgment of the ruler.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 3:35 Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”
- 2 Samuel 21:12 he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.
- Genesis 35:8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.
- Genesis 50:10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.