1 Samuel 13–31

Saul Rules over Israel

13Saul was thirty^a years old^b at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned forty-two years^c over Israel. ²He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. ³Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴And all Israel did hear, saying, “Saul has defeated the garrison of the Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among the Philistines!” So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal.

Saul’s Blunder

⁵And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which is on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

⁶When the men of Israel saw that it was too difficult^d for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults^e and in the wells. ⁷Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army followed him trembling.^{f 8}He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army started to slip away from him.^{g 9}So Saul said, “Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then he offered up the burnt offering. ¹⁰Just as^h he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him and to bless him. ¹¹But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the army was scatteringⁱ from me and you did not come at the appointed time^j and that the Philistines had gathered at Micmash, ¹²therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”

¹³Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you.”

¹⁵Then Samuel got up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶Saul and Jonathan his son and the army that remained with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines encamped at Micmash. ¹⁷The raiders^k went out from the camp of the Philistines in three divisions. One division turned on the road^l to Ophrah toward the land of Shual. ¹⁸One division turned on the road^m to Beth Horon, and one turned on the roadⁿ toward the border overlooking the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves.” ²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare^o sharpened. ²¹The charge^p was two-thirds of a shekel^q for the plowshare and for the mattock, and a third of a shekel for the pick^r and for the axe, and to set the goading sticks. ²²So^s on the day of battle, there was not a sword or a spear found in the hands of all the army that was with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.^{t 23}Now the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Micmash.

Jonathan Leads the Counterattack

14One day^a Jonathan the son of Saul said to his armor bearer,^b “Come and let us go over to the garrison of the Philistines which is over there.” But he did not tell his father. ²Now Saul was staying at the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that was in Migron, and the troops that were with him were about six hundred men. ³Now Ahijah, the son of Ahitub (the brother of Ichabod), the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of Yahweh at Shiloh, was carrying an ephod. The troops did not know that Jonathan had gone. ⁴Now between the passes where Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of the Philistines there was a crag of rock on one side^c and a crag of rock on the other.^d The name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other was Seneh. ⁵The one crag on the north was opposite Micmash and the other on the south was opposite Geba. ⁶So Jonathan said to his armor bearer,^e “Come, let us go over to the garrisons of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will act for us, for there is no hindrance for Yahweh to save by many or by few.” ⁷And his armor bearer^f said, “Do all that is in your heart that you are inclined to do.^g I am with you all of the way!^{h 8}Then Jonathan said, “Look, we are about to go over to the men; and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹If they say to us: ‘Wait until we reach you,’ then we will stand as we areⁱ and not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for Yahweh has given them into our hand, and this will be the sign for us.” ¹¹So the two of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, “The Hebrews are coming out from the holes in which they have hidden themselves.” ¹²Then the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer,^j “Come up to us and we will show you something!” Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer,^k “Come up after me, for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel!” ¹³So Jonathan went up on his hands and his feet, with his armor bearer^l after him. They fell before Jonathan and then his armor bearer^m would kill them after him. ¹⁴So was the first attack in which Jonathan and his armor bearerⁿ killed about twenty men within about half of a furrow in an acre of an open field. ¹⁵Then there was terror^o in the camp, in the open field, and among all the army of the garrison. Even the raiders^p trembled. The earth shook, and it became a very great panic.^q

¹⁶And the lookouts of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw that^r the multitude surged back and forth.^{s 17}Saul said to the troops that were with him, “Please call the roll and see who has gone from us.” So they called the roll and found that^t Jonathan and his armor bearer^u were not present. ¹⁸Then Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ark of God”^v (for the ark of God was at that time^w with the Israelites).^{x 19}While^y Saul was still speaking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more,^z so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!” ²⁰Then Saul and all the troops who were with him were assembled on command and came up to the battle, and look! Each Philistine’s sword was against his friend; and there was a very great confusion. ²¹The Hebrews who had been for the Philistines previously,^a who had gone up with them into the camp all around, even they joined the Israelites^b who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²All the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, so even they pursued them closely in the battle. ²³So on that day Yahweh delivered Israel, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.

Saul’s Oath Leads to Trouble

²⁴Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, because Saul had made the army take an oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats any food until evening, when I will have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the army tasted any food. ²⁵(Now all the people of the land used to go into the forest, for there was honey on the surface of the ground.) ²⁶When the army came to the forest, look! There was honey flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the army was afraid of the solemn oath.

²⁷However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb.^c Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed.^{d 28}Then a man from the army informed him and said, “Your father made the army swear a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today,’ ” so the army is exhausted. ²⁹Then Jonathan said, “My father has brought trouble on the land! See now that my eyes have brightened because I have tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much more could have been done^e if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder of their enemies that they had found! For now the loss among the Philistines is not great.” ³¹They defeated the Philistines that day from Micmash to Aijalon, and the troops were very weary.

³²Then the troops took the plunder: they took sheep and cattle and calves^f and slaughtered them on the ground and the troops ate them all with the blood. ³³So they reported it to Saul, saying, “Look! The troops are sinning against Yahweh by eating the animals with the blood!” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously! Roll to me a large stone today!”^{g 34}Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the troops and say to them, ‘Bring to me each one his ox and each his sheep and slaughter them in this place and eat, but do not sin against Yahweh by eating the animals with the blood.’ ” So all the troops brought them, each leading his ox in his hand that night, and slaughtered it there.

Jonathan Rescued from His Father Saul

³⁵Then Saul built an altar to Yahweh; it was the first altar he built^h to Yahweh. ³⁶Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave alive a man among them.” So they said, “Do all that is good in your eyes.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.” ³⁷So Saul inquired of God,…