A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

BIBLE QUESTION DOSSIER

What does the Bible say about suicide?

Short answer

The Bible records several suicides but gives no verse saying that suicide is an unforgivable sin. Christian teaching has normally treated intentional self-killing as a grave wrong while also recognizing that salvation is grounded in God’s grace, not in whether a person had time to perform one final act of repentance.

This is both a textual and pastoral question. Narratives about Saul, Ahithophel and Judas describe deaths; they are not simple doctrinal statements about the eternal destiny of every person who dies by suicide.

1. What do the English translations actually say?

The five translations below are stored locally on Born Again Daily, so you can see the wording before anyone tells you what to think about it.

1 Samuel 31:3-5

Saul falls on his sword after being mortally wounded.

KJV

3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. 4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. 5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

BSB

3 When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.

WEB

3 The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him.

ASV

3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then said Saul to his armorbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died with him.

YLT

3 And the battle is hard against Saul, and the archers find him—men with bow—and he is pained greatly by the archers; 4 and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, ‘Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come—these uncircumcised—and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;’ and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it. 5 And the bearer of his weapons seeth that Saul is dead, and he falleth—he also—on his sword, and dieth with him;

2 Samuel 17:23

Ahithophel hangs himself after his counsel is rejected.

KJV

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled [his] ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

BSB

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

WEB

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

ASV

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

YLT

And Ahithophel hath seen that his counsel was not done, and he saddleth the ass, and riseth and goeth unto his house, unto his city, and giveth charge unto his household, and strangleth himself, and dieth, and he is buried in the burying-place of his father.

Matthew 27:3-5

Judas dies by suicide after betraying Jesus.

KJV

3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that]. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

BSB

3 When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. 4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” 5 So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

WEB

3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.” 5 He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.

ASV

3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? see thou to it. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

YLT

3 Then Judas—he who delivered him up—having seen that he was condemned, having repented, brought back the thirty silverlings to the chief priests, and to the elders, saying, 4 ‘I did sin, having delivered up innocent blood;’ and they said, ‘What—to us? thou shalt see!’ 5 and having cast down the silverlings in the sanctuary, he departed, and having gone away, he did strangle himself.

Romans 8:38-39

Nothing in creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ.

KJV

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

BSB

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

WEB

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ASV

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

YLT

38 for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor messengers, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 39 nor things about to be, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of god, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2. What do the Hebrew and Greek words say?

Important: a lexicon gives a word’s possible senses and usage; it does not magically choose the correct sense without context. “The true meaning” of a biblical word is the meaning it carries in its actual sentence and historical usage.

3. Where interpretation begins

Historic moral teaching

Most Christian traditions regard suicide as morally wrong because human life belongs to God and people are commanded not to murder.

Pastoral qualification

Modern Christian teaching commonly rejects the claim that suicide automatically proves a person is eternally lost, especially in light of mental illness, impaired judgment and salvation by grace.

Narrative caution

Biblical suicide stories are tragic narratives; not every detail of a narrative functions as a direct command or a complete theology of suicide.

4. A careful conclusion

The Bible never identifies suicide as the one unforgivable sin. It treats human life as sacred and the suicide narratives as tragic. A person in immediate danger needs real-time human help and emergency support, not merely a theological web page.

Further study

Compare historical commentaries on 1 Samuel 31:3-5 →

Search the Early Church Fathers for this subject →