1 Chronicles 10 in Hebrew & English

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Tenakh Study · Read 1 Chronicles in Hebrew and English, one chapter per page. Our Tenakh study meets every Wednesday at 7 pm (Central Time) on Zoom. Text us for the Zoom link. Our Messianic Jewish notes appear below each passage; tap Commentary above to hide them. The full commentary on this chapter is on our 1 Chronicles commentary page.

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Tenakh Study · 1 Chronicles 10:1–14

1 Chronicles, Chapter 10

דברי הימים א י

The Pelishtim defeat Israel on mount Gilboa, where Shaul and his sons die; the Pelishtim strip the slain and fasten Shaul’s head in the temple of Dagon, the valiant men of Yavesh Gil’ad bury the bodies, and the kingdom is turned to David the son of Yishai.

10:1Now the Pelishtim (Philistines) fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Pelishtim, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

אוּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖ים נִלְחֲמ֣וּ בְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיָּ֑נָס אִֽישׁ־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ מִפְּנֵ֣י פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים וַיִּפְּל֥וּ חֲלָלִ֖ים בְּהַ֥ר גִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃

10:2And the Pelishtim followed hard after Shaul (Saul), and after his sons; and the Pelishtim slew Yonatan (Jonathan), and Avinadav (Abinadab), and Malki-Shua (Malchi-shua), the sons of Shaul.

בוַיַּדְבְּק֣וּ פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים אַחֲרֵ֥י שָׁא֖וּל וְאַחֲרֵ֣י בָנָ֑יו וַיַּכּ֣וּ פְלִשְׁתִּ֗ים אֶת־יוֹנָתָ֧ן וְאֶת־אֲבִינָדָ֛ב וְאֶת־מַלְכִּי־שׁ֖וּעַ בְּנֵ֥י שָׁאֽוּל׃

10:3And the battle went sore against Shaul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.

גוַתִּכְבַּ֤ד הַמִּלְחָמָה֙ עַל־שָׁא֔וּל וַיִּמְצָאֻ֖הוּ הַמּוֹרִ֣ים בַּקָּ֑שֶׁת וַיָּ֖חֶל מִן־הַיּוֹרִֽים׃

10:4Then said Shaul to his armourbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me.” But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Shaul took a sword, and fell upon it.

דוַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁאוּל֩ אֶל־נֹשֵׂ֨א כֵלָ֜יו שְׁלֹ֥ף חַרְבְּךָ֣ ׀ וְדָקְרֵ֣נִי בָ֗הּ פֶּן־יָבֹ֜אוּ הָעֲרֵלִ֤ים הָאֵ֨לֶּה֙ וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־בִ֔י וְלֹ֤א אָבָה֙ נֹשֵׂ֣א כֵלָ֔יו כִּ֥י יָרֵ֖א מְאֹ֑ד ס וַיִּקַּ֤ח שָׁאוּל֙ אֶת־הַחֶ֔רֶב וַיִּפֹּ֖ל עָלֶֽיהָ׃

10:5And when his armourbearer saw that Shaul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died.

הוַיַּ֥רְא נֹשֵֽׂא־כֵלָ֖יו כִּ֣י מֵ֣ת שָׁא֑וּל וַיִּפֹּ֥ל גַּם־ה֛וּא עַל־הַחֶ֖רֶב וַיָּמֹֽת׃

10:6So Shaul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.

ווַיָּ֤מָת שָׁאוּל֙ וּשְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת בָּנָ֔יו וְכָל־בֵּית֖וֹ יַחְדָּ֥ו מֵֽתוּ׃

10:7And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Shaul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Pelishtim came and dwelt in them.

זוַ֠יִּרְאוּ כָּל־אִ֨ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל אֲשֶׁר־בָּעֵ֨מֶק֙ כִּ֣י נָ֔סוּ וְכִי־מֵ֖תוּ שָׁא֣וּל וּבָנָ֑יו וַיַּעַזְב֤וּ עָרֵיהֶם֙ וַיָּנֻ֔סוּ וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּ בָּהֶֽם׃

Commentary · 10:1–7

Gilboa

The Chronicler has told us almost nothing about Shaul’s reign. He gave Shaul’s family tree twice (8:29–40; 9:35–44), and now, with no Golyat, no Amalek and no Ein Dor, he opens on the last day of Shaul’s life. The sages say Chronicles was given “only to be expounded” (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), and this chapter is a commentary on 1 Samuel 31 that assumes you have read it. Almost every word is the same, which makes the changes stand out. Rabbi Palvanov, in his class “Understanding Edom #4 – Zepho & Vulcan”, says the book “has seemingly many contradictions with earlier books of Tanakh… but you can resolve them.” Resolving them is the study.

“All his house.” Samuel says Shaul died with “his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together” (1 Samuel 31:6). Chronicles says, “So Shaul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together” (10:6). But Ish-Boshet reigned two years after this, and Mefiboshet lived to eat at David’s table. The commentators explain that “his house” means those of his house who were with him on the mountain, or that the house of Shaul died as a royal house that day. The Chronicler is not writing a casualty list; he is writing a verdict.

The head in Dagon’s house, and the men of Yavesh

Samuel says the Pelishtim fastened Shaul’s body to the wall of Beit She’an (1 Samuel 31:10). Chronicles tells us where the head went: “they fastened his head in the temple of Dagon” (10:10). A generation earlier the ark stood in Dagon’s temple, and in the morning “the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold” (1 Samuel 5:4). Now the head of Israel’s king hangs in Dagon’s house. In Shaul’s days the ark was left in Kiryat Ye’arim, and the Chronicler will say so in three chapters: “we inquired not at it in the days of Shaul” (13:3). A king who neglected the ark ends as a trophy in the house of the god the ark had humbled. The Chronicler does not say this out loud. He writes “Dagon” and lets us remember.

The men of Yavesh Gil’ad. “They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Shaul… and buried their bones under the terebinth in Yavesh, and fasted seven days” (10:12). Shaul’s first act as king was to save this city (1 Samuel 11), and they never forgot; David blessed them for it (2 Samuel 2:5). The Chronicler, who has no room for Shaul’s reign, finds room for the men who honored his body.

“Therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom”

These two verses are the Chronicler’s own; nothing like them stands in 1 Samuel 31. Hebrew lesson: מַעַל (ma’al), “transgression.” The word is stronger than it sounds: it is the Torah’s word for sacrilege, for treating the holy as common (Leviticus 5:15), the word for Achan (Joshua 7:1), and the word the Chronicler uses for Judah’s exile (9:1). Shaul is the first king charged with it, and his story is the nation’s in miniature.

Hebrew lesson: דָּרַשׁ (darash), “to seek, to inquire.” Shaul “inquired not (lo darash) of Hashem” (10:14). This is the Chronicler’s favorite word: “if you seek Him, He will be found of you” (28:9). There is a wordplay too. Shaul means “asked for”; he died for “asking” a familiar spirit. The man who was asked for died for asking in the wrong place. But did Shaul not inquire (1 Samuel 28:6)? The commentators answer that he did not wait, but turned at once to the medium the Torah forbids (Deuteronomy 18:10–11). An inquiry abandoned the moment it is not answered is no inquiry at all.

The sages refuse to leave Shaul there. Rabbi Yochanan reads Shmuel’s “tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me” as “in my portion” (Berakhot 12b), and the Talmud counts Shaul among the eight princes of Micah 5 who rise to serve the Messiah (Sukkah 52b). Rabbi Palvanov, in “Understanding Mashiach ben Yosef, Part 2”, pauses at Shaul: “he’s going to come back. He was still a tzaddik.” We hold both halves together: the Chronicler’s judgment on the king, and the sages’ hope for the man.

Messianic reading. Paul told this chapter the Chronicler’s way: “when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David… Of this man’s seed has God… raised unto Israel a Saviour, Yeshua” (Acts 13:22–23). The kingdom is Hashem’s to turn.

Sources & method

Hebrew text: The Masoretic text with vowels (nikkud) and cantillation marks (ta’amim), from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain) as published by the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0). Where the written text (ketiv) differs from the reading (qere), the reading is shown and the written form follows in small type. A paragraph mark (ס or פ) inside a verse is shown in small type.
English translation: The King James Version (public domain), lightly modernized by Benei Avraham: “thee/thou/ye” become “you,” older verb forms are updated (“hath” to “has”), and archaic words are replaced only where the meaning would otherwise be unclear. People and places carry their Hebrew names, with the King James spelling in parentheses the first time on each page (e.g., Yehudah (Judah)). The Divine Name (יהוה, “the LORD” in the KJV) is written “Hashem”; “God” (Elohim) is unchanged, and “law” is “Torah” where the Hebrew is תּוֹרָה.
Verse numbers: Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Chronicles they differ from most English Bibles in chapters 5, 6 and 12; a note under the summary on those pages explains how.
Commentary: Written for our Wednesday Tenakh study from a Messianic Jewish perspective, in line with the Benei Avraham Statement of Faith. It reads the passage first in its Torah setting, then with the Sages, and then with the witness of the Brit Hadashah. Its sources include the Talmud and Midrash, Rashi, Radak, Rambam, the First Fruits of Zion End of Days lessons, and teachings of Rabbi Efraim Palvanov and Ariel Cohen Alloro. Numerical readings (gematria) are offered as hints, not proofs. The notes here are short versions of our full 1 Chronicles commentary, which is a draft for our teachers to review. They are shown by default; tap Commentary to hide them.
Quiz: Written by Benei Avraham for young readers (about 11 and up). Every answer is in the chapter on this page. Answers and scores are kept only in this browser (local storage) and can be cleared with Start over.
Hebrew font: SBL Hebrew, by the Society of Biblical Literature.

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