Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me." But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.

When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died.

Joab reported to David the number of warriors. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.

David looked up and saw the Lord's messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.

The Lord ordered the messenger to put his sword back into its sheath.

But David could not go before it to seek God's will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord's messenger.