One other person, place or group in the registry answers to the name Saul. Every Saul in the Bible
person
Saul
שָׁאוּלΣαούλ
- verses
- 327
- first named
- 1 Samuel 9:2
- last named
- Acts 13:22
- period
- United Monarchy
- tribe
- Benjamin
Description
Who was Saul?
Saul was the first king of Israel, anointed by the prophet Samuel in response to the people's request for a king (1Samuel 8-10). He was a tall and handsome Benjamite who initially showed humility and potential as a leader (1Sa.9.2, 21; 10.6-7, 9-10). However, Saul's reign was marked by disobedience and rebellion against God. He offered an unlawful sacrifice before a battle against the Philistines (1Sa.13.8-14) and later disobeyed God's command to completely destroy the Amalekites and their possessions (1Samuel 15). As a result, God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him (1Sa.15.23, 28; 16.1, 13). Saul became jealous of David's success and popularity, leading him to pursue David and attempt to kill him on multiple occasions (1Samuel 18-26). Saul also massacred the priests of Nob for assisting David (1Sa.22.6-23). In a battle against the Philistines, Saul was critically wounded and took his own life to avoid capture (1Sa.31.1-6). His body was later recovered by the men of Jabesh-gilead and buried (1Sa.31.11-13). Despite his tragic end, Saul's reign united the tribes of Israel and laid the foundation for the Israelite monarchy. His life serves as a warning against disobedience and the consequences of turning away from God.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 23 are drawn. All 23 are listed below.
Ancestor of
Child of
- Kishregistry1 Samuel 9:21 Samuel 9:31 Samuel 14:51 +7
Father of
- Abinadabregistry1 Chronicles 8:331 Chronicles 9:391 Samuel 14:49 +2
- Armoniregistry2 Samuel 21:8
- Ish-boshethregistry2 Samuel 4:11 Chronicles 8:331 Chronicles 9:39 +5
- Jonathanregistry1 Samuel 19:21 Samuel 19:41 Samuel 23:17 +18
- Malchi-shuaregistry1 Chronicles 8:331 Chronicles 9:391 Samuel 14:49 +2
- Mephiboshethregistry2 Samuel 21:8
- Merabregistry2 Samuel 21:81 Samuel 14:491 Samuel 18:19
- Michalregistry1 Samuel 14:491 Samuel 18:201 Samuel 18:27 +6
Partner of
- Ahinoamregistry1 Samuel 14:50
- Rizpahregistry2 Samuel 21:11
Stands in the same events as
- David105 events
- Samuel41 events
- Jonathan26 events
- Philistia24 events
- Israel20 events
- LORD12 events
- Amalek9 events
- Abner5 events
- Gibeah5 events
- Gilgal5 events
- Mizpah4 events
- Jesse4 events
and 95 more, ordered by how many events they share.
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Saul is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
327 verses across 6 of 66 books; 60 write the name nowhere. Named in 1 Samuel (241), 2 Samuel (57), 1 Chronicles (22), Psalms (5), Isaiah (1) and Acts (1).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 327, across 6 books. The name is written 398 times in them.
1 Samuel241 verses
9:29:39:59:79:89:109:159:179:189:199:219:229:249:259:269:2710:1110:1210:1410:1510:1610:2110:2611:411:511:611:711:1111:1211:1311:1513:113:213:313:413:713:913:1013:1113:1313:1513:1613:2214:114:214:1614:1714:1814:1914:2014:2114:2414:3314:3414:3514:3614:3714:3814:4014:4114:4214:4314:4414:4514:4614:4714:4914:5014:5114:5215:115:415:515:615:715:915:1115:1215:1315:1515:1615:2015:2415:2615:3115:3415:3516:116:216:1416:1516:1716:1916:2016:2116:2216:2317:217:817:1117:1217:1317:1417:1517:1917:3117:3217:3317:3417:3717:3817:3917:5517:5717:5818:118:218:518:618:718:818:918:1018:1118:1218:1318:1518:1718:1818:1918:2018:2118:2218:2318:2418:2518:2718:2818:2918:3019:119:219:419:619:719:919:1019:1119:1419:1519:1719:1819:1919:2019:2119:2420:2520:2620:2720:2820:3020:3220:3321:721:1021:1122:622:722:922:1222:1322:2122:2223:723:823:923:1023:1123:1223:1323:1423:1523:1623:1723:1923:2123:2423:2523:2623:2723:2824:124:224:324:424:524:724:824:924:1624:2225:4426:126:226:326:426:526:626:726:1226:1726:2126:2527:127:428:328:428:528:628:728:828:928:1028:1228:1328:1428:1528:2028:2128:2529:329:531:231:331:431:531:631:731:831:1131:12
2 Samuel57 verses
1:11:21:41:51:61:121:171:211:221:231:242:42:52:72:82:102:122:153:13:63:73:83:103:133:144:14:24:44:84:105:26:166:206:237:159:19:29:39:69:79:912:716:516:819:1719:2421:121:221:421:621:721:821:1121:1221:1321:1422:1
1 Chronicles22 verses
5:108:339:3910:210:310:410:510:610:710:810:1110:1210:1311:212:112:212:1912:2312:2913:315:2926:28
Psalms5 verses
Isaiah1 verse
Acts1 verse
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- 1 Samuel 9Saul searches for Kish’s wandering donkeys, mistakes Samuel for an ordinary guide, and is seated in the place of honour at the meal.
- 1 Samuel 10Saul is anointed, prophesies with the prophets, keeps the kingship from his uncle, hides among the baggage, and remains silent when his enemies despise him.
- 1 Samuel 11Saul came in from the field behind his oxen, summoned Israel with their severed pieces, led the divisions against Ammon, and spared those who had opposed his reign.
- 1 Samuel 13Saul summoned Israel, waited at Gilgal, offered the burnt offering, and was told that his kingdom would not endure.
- 1 Samuel 14Saul gathered the troops, imposed an oath, investigated the unanswered prayer, and fought Israel’s enemies on every side.
- 1 Samuel 15Saul gathered the troops, struck the Amalekites, spared Agag and the best of the spoil, and then asked Samuel to honour him before Israel.
- 1 Samuel 16Saul was rejected as king, became tormented by a spirit of distress, and took David into his service as armor-bearer and harpist.
- 1 Samuel 17Saul camps with Israel, hears Goliath’s challenge, sends for David, clothes him in armor, and later asks whose son he is.
23 more chapters, from 1 Samuel 18 to Acts 13
- 1 Samuel 18Saul kept David near him, promoted him, grew jealous of him, twice hurled a spear at him, and tried to make marriage and battle serve the same dark purpose.
- 1 Samuel 19Saul orders David’s death, swears that David will live, throws a spear at him, sends repeated companies to seize him, and ends by prophesying naked before Samuel.
- 1 Samuel 20Saul questioned David’s absence, demanded his death, and hurled a spear at Jonathan.
- 1 Samuel 21Saul sent David on the secret and urgent mission that David described to Ahimelech.
- 1 Samuel 22Saul sat armed beneath the tamarisk at Gibeah, accused his servants and Ahimelech, and ordered the priests of the LORD to be killed.
- 1 Samuel 23Saul summoned troops to besiege David, pursued him through the wilderness, and broke off the chase when the Philistines raided the land.
- 1 Samuel 24Saul pursued David with three thousand chosen men, entered the cave where David hid, and later wept and acknowledged David’s righteousness.
- 1 Samuel 25Saul gave Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish.
- 1 Samuel 26Saul pursued David with three thousand chosen men, then confessed his sin when David displayed the spear taken from beside his head.
- 1 Samuel 27Saul stopped searching for David when he learned that David had fled to Gath.
- 1 Samuel 28Saul gathers Israel for war, trembles before the Philistines, disguises himself to consult a medium, and collapses when Samuel tells him what tomorrow holds.
- 1 Samuel 31Saul was pursued, wounded, refused the help he requested from his armour-bearer, and fell on his own sword.
- 2 Samuel 1Saul was found on Mount Gilboa leaning on his spear, and was remembered in the lament as beloved, mighty, and fallen.
- 2 Samuel 4Saul is remembered in the report that brought news of his death and in David’s account of the messenger’s reward.
- 2 Samuel 7Saul was recalled as the one from whom the LORD’s loving devotion had been removed.
- 2 Samuel 21Saul sought to kill the Gibeonites, and his bloodshed was named as the cause of the famine.
- 1 Chronicles 10Saul was wounded, fell on his own sword, and was later said to have been put to death by the LORD.
- 1 Chronicles 12Saul was the king from whose presence David was banished, and against whom the arriving men were prepared to fight.
- Psalms 52Saul receives Doeg's report about David and Ahimelech's house.
- Psalms 54Saul receives the Ziphites’ report that David is hiding among them.
- Psalms 57Saul is the one from whom David flees into the cave.
- Psalms 59Saul sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.
- Acts 13Saul was sent out from Antioch and became Paul in the middle of the encounter at Paphos.
Sources