And the battle went sore against Saul,.... Pressed heavy upon him; he was the butt of the Philistines, they aimed at his person and life:
and the archers hit him; or "found him" a; the place where was, and directed their arrows at him:
and he was sore wounded of the archers; or rather "he was afraid" of them, as the Targum, for as yet he was not wounded; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, and is the sense Kimchi and Ben Melech give of the word: he was not afraid of death, as Abarbinel observes, he chose to die; but he was afraid he should be hit by the archers in such a way that he should not die immediately, and should be taken alive and ill used; the Philistines, especially the Cherethites, were famous for archery; Zephaniah 2:5.
a וימצאהו "et inveserust cum", Pagninus, Montanus.