²He chose 3,000 of Israel’s men. Two thousand of them were with him at Micmash and in the hill country of Bethel. One thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. Saul sent the rest back to their homes.

³Some Philistine soldiers were stationed at Geba. Jonathan attacked them. The other Philistines heard about it.

Saul announced, “Let the Hebrew people hear about what has happened!” He had trumpets blown all through the land. ⁴So all of the people of Israel heard the news. They were told, “Saul has attacked the Philistine army camp at Geba. He has made Israel smell very bad to the Philistines.” The people of Israel were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel. They had 3,000 chariots and 6,000 chariot drivers. Their soldiers were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash. It was east of Beth Aven.

⁶The men of Israel saw that their army was in deep trouble. So they hid in caves and bushes. They hid among the rocks. They hid in pits and empty wells. ⁷Some of them even went across the Jordan River. They went to the lands of Gad and Gilead.

Saul remained at Gilgal. All of the troops who were with him were shaking with fear. ⁸He waited seven days, just as Samuel had told him to. But Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal. And Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the friendship offerings.” Then he offered up the burnt offering.

¹⁰Just as Saul finished offering the sacrifice, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him.

¹¹“What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “I saw that the men were scattering. I saw that the Philistines were gathering together at Micmash. You didn’t come when you said you would. ¹²So I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down to attack me at Gilgal. And I haven’t asked the Lord to show us his favor.’ So I felt I had to sacrifice the burnt offering.”

¹³“You did a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You haven’t obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would have made your kingdom secure over Israel for all time to come. ¹⁴But now your kingdom won’t last. The Lord has already looked for a man who is dear to his heart. He has appointed him leader of his people. That’s because you haven’t obeyed the Lord’s command.”

¹⁵Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. Saul counted the men who stayed with him. The total number was about 600.

Israel Doesn’t Have Swords or Spears

¹⁶Saul and his son Jonathan were staying in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. What was left of the army was there with them. At the same time, the Philistines camped at Micmash.

¹⁷Three groups of soldiers went out from the Philistine camp to attack Israel. One group turned and went toward Ophrah in the area of Shual. ¹⁸Another went toward Beth Horon. The third went toward the border that looked out over the Valley of Zeboim. That valley faces the desert.

¹⁹There weren’t any blacksmiths in the whole land of Israel. That’s because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews might hire them to make swords or spears!”

²⁰So all of the people of Israel had to go down to the Philistines. They had to go to them to get their plows, hoes, axes and sickles sharpened. ²¹It cost a fourth of an ounce of silver to sharpen a plow or a hoe. It cost an eighth of an ounce to sharpen a pitchfork or an axe. That’s also what it cost to put new tips on large sticks that were used to drive oxen.

²²So not one of Saul’s or Jonathan’s soldiers had a sword or spear in his hand when he went out to battle. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had those weapons.

Jonathan Attacks the Philistines

14²³A group of Philistine soldiers had gone out to the pass at Micmash. ¹One day Jonathan, the son of Saul, spoke to the young man who was carrying his armor. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go over to the Philistine army camp on the other side of the pass.” But he didn’t tell his father about it.

²Saul was staying just outside Gibeah. He was under a pomegranate tree in Migron. He had about 600 men with him. ³Ahijah was one of them. He was wearing a sacred linen apron. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ahitub was the son of Eli’s son Phinehas. Eli had been the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

⁴Jonathan planned to go across the pass to reach the Philistine camp. But there was a cliff on each side of the pass. One cliff was called Bozez. The other was called Seneh. ⁵One cliff stood on the north side of the pass toward Micmash. The other stood on the south side toward Geba.

⁶Jonathan spoke to the young man who was carrying his armor. He said, “Come on. Let’s go over to the camp of those fellows who aren’t circumcised. Perhaps the Lord will help us. If he does, it won’t matter how many or how few of us there are. That won’t keep the Lord from saving us.”

⁷“Go ahead,” the young man said. “Do everything you have in mind. I’m with you all the way.”

⁸Jonathan said, “Come on, then. We’ll go across the pass toward the Philistines and let them see us. ⁹Suppose they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you.’ Then we’ll stay where we are. We won’t go up to them. ¹⁰But suppose they say, ‘Come up to us.’ Then we’ll climb up. That will show us that the Lord has handed them over to us.”

¹¹So Jonathan and the young man let the soldiers in the Philistine camp see them. “Look!” said the Philistines. “Some of the Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.”

¹²The men in the Philistine camp shouted to Jonathan and the young man who was carrying his armor. They said, “Come on up here. We’ll teach you a thing or two.”

So Jonathan said to the young man, “Climb up after me. The Lord has handed them over to Israel.”

¹³Using his hands and feet, Jonathan climbed up. The young man was right behind him. Jonathan struck the Philistines down. The young man followed him and killed those who were still alive. ¹⁴In that first attack, Jonathan and the young man killed about 20 men. They did it in an area of about half an acre.

Israel Chases the Philistines Away

¹⁵Then panic struck the whole Philistine army. It struck those who were in the camp and the field. It struck those who were at the edge of the camp. It also struck those who were in the groups that had been sent out to attack Israel. The ground shook. It was a panic that God had sent.

¹⁶Saul’s lookouts at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin saw what was happening. They saw the Philistine army melting away in all directions.

¹⁷Then Saul spoke to the men who were with him. He said, “Bring the troops together. See who has left our camp.” When they did, they discovered that Jonathan and the young man who was carrying his armor weren’t there.

¹⁸Saul said to the priest Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God.” At that time it was with the people of Israel.

¹⁹While Saul was talking to the priest, the noise in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to him, “Stop what you are doing.”

²⁰Then Saul and all of his men gathered together. They went to the battle. They saw that the Philistines were in total disorder. They were striking each other with their swords.

²¹At an earlier time some of the Hebrews had been on the side of the Philistines. They had gone up with them to their camp. But now they changed sides. They joined the people of Israel who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²²Some of the people had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim. They heard that the Philistines were running away. They quickly joined the battle and chased after them.

²³So the Lord saved Israel that day. And the fighting continued on past Beth Aven.

Jonathan Eats Honey

²⁴The men of Israel became very hungry that day. That’s because Saul had put the army under an oath. He had said, “None of you must eat any food before evening comes. You must not eat until I’ve paid my enemies back for what they did. If you do, may you be under a curse!” So none of the troops ate any food at all.

²⁵The whole army entered the woods. There was honey on the ground. ²⁶When they went into the woods, they saw the honey dripping out of a honeycomb. No one put any of the honey in his mouth. That’s because they were afraid of the oath.

²⁷But Jonathan hadn’t heard that his father had put the army under an oath. Jonathan had a long stick in his hand. He reached out and dipped the end of it into the honeycomb. He put some honey in his mouth. It gave him new life.

²⁸Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father put the army under a strong oath. He said, ‘None of you must eat any food today. If you do, may you be under a curse!’ That’s why the men are weak and ready to faint.”

²⁹Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how I gained new life after I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰Our soldiers took food from their enemies today. Suppose they had eaten some of it. How much better off they would have been! Even more Philistines would have been killed.”

³¹That day the men of Israel struck the Philistines down. They killed them from Micmash to Aijalon. By that time they were tired and worn out. ³²They grabbed what they had taken from their enemies. They killed some of the sheep, cattle and calves right there on the ground. They ate the meat while the blood was still in it.

³³Then someone said to Saul, “Look! The men are sinning against the Lord. They’re eating meat that still has blood in it.”

Saul said to them, “You have broken your promise. Roll a large stone over here at once.” ³⁴He continued, “Go out among the men. Tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep. Kill them here and eat them. Don’t sin against the Lord by eating meat that still has blood in it.’ ”

So that night everyone brought the ox he had taken and killed it there.

³⁵Then Saul built an altar to honor the Lord. It was the first time he had done that.

³⁶Saul said, “Let’s go…

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