1 Samuel 13–31

Chapter 13

War with the Philistines

¹Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty two years over Israel.

²Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in ^aMichmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000 were with Jonathan at ^bGibeah of Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.

³Jonathan smote ^athe garrison of the Philistines that was in ^bGeba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul ^cblew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”

⁴All Israel heard ¹the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel ^ahad become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned ²to Saul at Gilgal.

⁵Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and ^apeople like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of ^bBeth-aven.

⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then ^athe people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.

⁷Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of ^aGad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸Now ^ahe waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him.

⁹So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And ^ahe offered the burnt offering.

¹⁰As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and ^aSaul went out to meet him and to ¹greet him.

¹¹But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that ^athe Philistines were assembling at Michmash,

¹²therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”

¹³Samuel said to Saul, “^aYou have acted foolishly; ^byou have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom ¹over Israel ^cforever.

¹⁴“But ^anow your kingdom shall not endure. ^bThe Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

¹⁵Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to ^aGibeah of Benjamin. And Saul ¹numbered the people who were present with him, ^babout six hundred men.

¹⁶Now Saul and his son Jonathan and the people who were present with them were staying in ^aGeba of Benjamin while the Philistines camped at Michmash.

¹⁷And ^athe ¹raiders came from the camp of the Philistines in three ²companies: one ³company turned ⁴toward ^bOphrah, to the land of Shual,

¹⁸and another ¹company turned ²toward ^aBeth-horon, and another company turned toward the border which overlooks the valley of ^bZeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now ^ano blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make ^1bswords or spears.”

²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.

²¹The charge was ¹two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.

²²So it came about on the day of battle that ^aneither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan.

²³And ^athe garrison of the Philistines went out to ^bthe pass of Michmash.

Chapter 14

Jonathan’s Victory

¹Now the day came that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.

²Saul was staying in the outskirts of ^aGibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in ^bMigron. And the people who were with him were ^cabout six hundred men,

³and Ahijah, the ^ason of Ahitub, ^bIchabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord at ^cShiloh, ^dwas ¹wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

^4aBetween the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp crag on the one side and a sharp crag on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

⁵The one crag rose on the north opposite Michmash, and the other on the south opposite Geba.

⁶Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of ^athese uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for ^bthe Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.”

⁷His armor bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart; turn yourself, and here I am with you according to your ¹desire.”

⁸Then Jonathan said, “^aBehold, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them.

⁹“If they ¹say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you’; then we will stand in our place and not go up to them.

¹⁰“But if they ¹say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hands; and ^athis shall be the sign to us.”

¹¹When both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, the Philistines said, “Behold, ^aHebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.”

¹²So the men of the garrison ¹hailed Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, “Come up to us and ^awe will tell you something.” And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up after me, for ^bthe Lord has given them into the hands of Israel.”

¹³Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer behind him; and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer put some to death after him.

¹⁴That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men within about half a furrow in an acre of land.

¹⁵And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and ^athe raiders trembled, and ^bthe earth quaked so ^cthat it became a ¹great trembling.

¹⁶Now Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away; and they went here and there.

¹⁷Saul said to the people who were with him, “¹Number now and see who has gone from us.” And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

¹⁸Then Saul said to Ahijah, “^aBring the ark of God here.” For the ark of God was at that time with the sons of Israel.

^19aWhile Saul talked to the priest, the commotion in the camp of the Philistines continued and increased; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”

²⁰Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and came to the battle; and behold, ^aevery man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion.

²¹Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines previously, who went up with them all around in the camp, even ^athey also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²²When all the ^amen of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, even they also pursued them closely in the battle.

²³So ^athe Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle ¹spread beyond ^bBeth-aven.

Saul’s Foolish Order

²⁴Now the men of Israel were hard-pressed on that day, for Saul had ^aput the people under oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food ¹before evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.

²⁵All the people of the land entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.

²⁶When the people entered the forest, behold, ^athere was a flow of honey; but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷But Jonathan had not heard when his father put the people under oath; therefore, ^ahe put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and ^bhis eyes brightened.

²⁸Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly put the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today.’ ” And the people were weary.

²⁹Then Jonathan said, “^aMy father has troubled the land. See now, how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰“How much more, if only the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.”

³¹They struck among the Philistines that day from ^aMichmash to ^bAijalon. And the people were very weary.

^32aThe people ¹rushed greedily upon the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground; and the people ate them ^bwith the blood.

³³Then they told Saul, saying, “Behold, the people are ^asinning against the Lord by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have acted treacherously; roll a great stone to me today.”

³⁴Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Each one of you bring me his ox or his sheep, and slaughter it here and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So all the people that night brought each one his ox ¹with him and slaughtered it there.

³⁵And ^aSaul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

³⁶Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good ¹to you.” So ^athe priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”

³⁷Saul ^ainquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But ^bHe did not answer him on that day.

³⁸Saul said, “^aDraw near here, all you ¹chiefs of the people, and investigate and see how this sin has happened today.

³⁹…