Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 31:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13
Follow the scene from 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13, not verse 31:13 alone. This line closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting, and the surrounding movement is Jabesh's valiant men travel by night, recover the bodies, burn and bury the remains, and fast seven days beneath a tree.
Why This Verse Appears Here
At verse 31:13, the scene closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting. That movement matters to “Jabesh retrieves and mourns Saul and his sons” while the unit's uncertainty and ethical boundary continue to govern application.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Jabesh's valiant men travel by night, recover the bodies, burn and bury the remains.
- Developing movement or outcome: fast seven days beneath a tree.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 31:13 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13: it closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting. Burial honor does not erase Saul's harms, require survivors to praise a ruler uncritically, or make one funerary practice universally binding.
What Remains True
Closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting. Within 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: Accountability requires hearing the full movement—Jabesh's valiant men travel by night, recover the bodies, burn and bury the remains, and fast seven days beneath a tree. Burial honor does not erase Saul's harms, require survivors to praise a ruler uncritically, or make one funerary practice universally binding.
How It Can Shape Life
- Closes with burning, burial under a tree, and seven days of fasting. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: Honor the dead and support mourners without erasing a leader's harms, forcing praise from survivors, or making one community's funeral practice universal. Burial honor does not erase Saul's harms, require survivors to praise a ruler uncritically, or make one funerary practice universally binding.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 31:13's precise role in 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13 — Jabesh retrieves and mourns Saul and his sonsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The burning of remains and comparison with Chronicles are discussed in several ways; Jabesh's gratitude after chapter 11 and the movement into 2 Samuel 1 are clear.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 31:11–31:13; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 31:11–31:13
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 21:1[2]–2 Samuel 1:27, pp. 111–140
Open source ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Responsible communication safeguards for Saul's death, not exegesis or diagnosis.
Exact location: World Health Organization, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii, evidence pp. 7–10, dos and don'ts pp. 11–16
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 31:11–31:13
Open source ↗