Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David: “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “The Lord bless you, because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him.

He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin—over all Israel.

And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.

he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.

They went to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites and continued on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.