Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThey cut off his head and stripped him of his armor, then dispatched runners across all of Philistia to proclaim the victory — announcing the good news in the temples of their gods and to the people.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThey cut off his head, stripped his armour, and sent word throughout the land of the P'lishtim — bearing the glad tidings to the house of their idols and to all the people.
KJV
King James VersionAnd they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThey cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.
Footnotes
The verb *levasair* (לְבַשֵּׂר) — here 'bearing the glad tidings' / 'proclaiming the good news' — is the precise root of *besorah*, the Hebrew word for 'gospel' or 'glad announcement.' The P'lishtim are, in effect, 'gospelising' their victory to their idols. The bitter irony is profound: the vocabulary reserved in Scripture for YHWH's saving acts (cf. Isaiah 52:7, 'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings *besorah*') is here hijacked for pagan triumphalism. This anti-gospel moment anticipates, by contrast, the true besorah — where YHWH's Anointed is raised in victory, not displayed in defeat. The word *atzabbehem* (עֲצַבֵּיהֶם), 'their idols,' also carries the root *atzav* meaning 'grief' or 'pain' — the Hebrew idiom for idols as things that cause anguish. FOG renders 'glad tidings' to surface the *besorah* freight; FOG Message uses 'good news' to echo the same theological resonance in contemporary idiom.