Mount Gilboa
길보아산
Named at 1 Samuel 28:4: “The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.” At 31:1 the men of Israel flee from before the Philistines, and fall down slain on Mount Gilboa; at 31:8, on the next day, when the Philistines come to strip the slain, they find Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. WEB writes Gilboa at 28:4 and Mount Gilboa at 31:1 and 31:8; the Korean Revised Version writes 길보아, 길보아산 and 길보아 산.
Direct relationships 5
Open in the full graphCollected relationship evidence
Source-backed narrative relations; not independent historical verification. Legacy dates and coordinates are outside this review.
Collection & rightsSource evidence (8)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- 1CH 10:1–6, engwebp
1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was distressed by reason of the archers.
4Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword and fell on it.
5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died.
6So Saul died with his three sons; and all his house died together.
- 1CH 10:8–10, engwebp
8On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9They stripped him and took his head and his armor, then sent into the land of the Philistines all around to carry the news to their idols and to the people.
10They put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.
- 1SA 28:3–6, engwebp
3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land.
4The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.
5When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
6When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.
- 1SA 31:1–6, engwebp
1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
4Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not, for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword and fell on it.
5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him.
6So Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men that same day together.
- 1SA 31:8–10, engwebp
8On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols and to the people.
10They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
- 2SA 1:5–10, engwebp
5David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?”
6The young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance on Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and the horsemen followed close behind him.
7When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. I answered, ‘Here I am.’
8He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
9He said to me, ‘Please stand beside me, and kill me, for anguish has taken hold of me because my life lingers in me.’
10So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”
- 2SA 1:17–27, engwebp
17David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son
18(and he commanded them to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):
19“Your glory, Israel, was slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!
20Don’t tell it in Gath. Don’t publish it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
21You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty was defiled and cast away, the shield of Saul was not anointed with oil.
22From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan’s bow didn’t turn back. Saul’s sword didn’t return empty.
23Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions.
24You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you delicately in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your clothing.
25How the mighty have fallen in the middle of the battle! Jonathan was slain on your high places.
26I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.
27How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”
- 2SA 21:10–14, engwebp
10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.
11David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged.
14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.
AI-assisted, human review pending, 2026-09-26
Machine comparison on 2026-10-07: the wording raised none of the 3 rules against the passages this entry cites. No person has read it.
Geographic sources & candidates
Matched to OpenBible.info’s “Mount Gilboa” by name and 8 shared verses. The coordinate of its leading identification, Mount Gilboa (confidence 1000 of 1000), is adopted as a sourced approximation: not verified here, and not the place of any particular event.
AI-assisted source review; human approval pending, 2026-09-29
- Mount Gilboa
OpenBible.info confidence 1000 of 1000 (current scholarship)
32.43389, 35.41444
OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, “Mount Gilboa” (CC BY 4.0)
Original editorial notes; linked source texts retain their own rights. Candidate lists are not exhaustive.
All 5 relationships: AI-assisted, human review pending
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Narrated location (5) — The Philistines encamp in Shunem, and the LORD doesn’t answer Saul, Saul falls on his sword, and Saul and his three sons die together, The Philistines cut off Saul’s head and fasten his body to the wall of Beth Shan, The Philistines fight against Israel, and Saul dies with his three sons and all his house, The Philistines take Saul’s head and his armor
A relationship with an event rests on the passages the event cites: each event’s page has them.
Verses tagged with this entry
Names in the World English Bible text that carry this entry’s tag. They are carried over from the tags on the Korean Revised Version, which are matched by name inside chapters that already have collected evidence, and a verse where the English says “he” carries none. All await human review. They are a separate list from the source passages above. An empty list does not mean the entry is absent from the text.
The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
The young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance on Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and the horsemen followed close behind him.
So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
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[Bibliadatum entry report] Entry: Mount Gilboa (place-mount-gilboa) Address: https://bibliadatum.org/en/wiki/place/mount-gilboa Current wording: Named at 1 Samuel 28:4: “The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.” At 31:1 the men of Israel flee from before the Philistines, and fall down slain on Mount Gilboa; at 31:8, on the next day, when the Philistines come to strip the slain, they find Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. WEB writes Gilboa at 28:4 and Mount Gilboa at 31:1 and 31:8; the Korean Revised Version writes 길보아, 길보아산 and 길보아 산. Cited evidence: 1CH 10:1–6, engwebp / 1CH 10:8–10, engwebp / 1SA 28:3–6, engwebp / 1SA 31:1–6, engwebp / 1SA 31:8–10, engwebp / 2SA 1:5–10, engwebp / 2SA 1:17–27, engwebp / 2SA 21:10–14, engwebp Review state: ai-assisted / human-review-pending What looks wrong: (not written yet) --- This collection records what the text says and does not settle interpretation. A report about a reading that divides opinion may be registered as an unresolved issue rather than corrected.