Bible Strands
1 Samuel 31:4
Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul addresses his armor-bearer on the battlefield immediately after being critically wounded by archers in a collapsing fight.
The words — The Hebrew text records Saul commanding his bearer to draw out his sword and pierce him, using the term פֶּן (pen) to state the fear that enemy forces would capture and torture him.
The thread — This scene parallels Abimelech’s command in Judges 9:54 to avoid posthumous shame, while 2 Samuel 1:6 and 1:9 provide later battlefield accounts that reference Saul’s fallen state and a survivor’s claim to have executed a similar request.
Why it lands — The passage records Saul’s direct order to commit suicide to prevent enemy capture, the armor-bearer’s refusal, and Saul’s subsequent self-inflicted death, presenting a concrete moment where royal authority collapses into desperate self-preservation.
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
Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
Cross-references
- Judges 9:54 He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.
- 2 Samuel 1:6 “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him.
- 2 Samuel 1:9 Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’
- 2 Samuel 1:20 Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
- 2 Samuel 17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
- Judges 14:3 But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.”
- 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
- 1 Samuel 17:26 David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
- 1 Samuel 17:36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
- 2 Samuel 1:14 So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”