1 Samuel 13–31

Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice

13Saul ¹reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, ²Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in ^aMichmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with ^bJonathan in ^cGibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent.

³And Jonathan attacked ^dthe garrison of the Philistines that was in ^eGeba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become ²an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal.

⁵Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, ³thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people ^fas the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of ^gBeth Aven. ⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people ^hhid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. ⁷And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the ⁱland of Gad and Gilead.

As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. ^8jThen he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might ⁴greet him.

¹¹And Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹²then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”

¹³And Samuel said to Saul, ^k“You have done foolishly. ^lYou have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ^14mBut now your kingdom shall not continue. ⁿThe Lord has sought for Himself a man ^oafter His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have ^pnot kept what the Lord commanded you.”

¹⁵Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of ⁵Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, ^qabout six hundred men.

No Weapons for the Army

¹⁶Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people present with them remained in ⁶Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash. ¹⁷Then raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned onto the road to ^rOphrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸another company turned to the road to ^sBeth Horon, and another company turned to the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of ^tZeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now ^uthere was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” ²⁰But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; ²¹and the charge for a sharpening was a ⁷pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. ²²So it came about, on the day of battle, that ^vthere was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.

^23wAnd the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

Jonathan Defeats the Philistines

14Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who ¹bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. ²And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of ^aGibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. ^3bAhijah the son of Ahitub, ^cIchabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was ^dwearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

⁴Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over ^eto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah.

⁶Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these ^funcircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord ^gfrom saving by many or by few.”

⁷So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”

⁸Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and ^hthis will be a sign to us.”

¹¹So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have ⁱhidden.” ¹²Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will ²show you something.”

Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” ¹³And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they ^jfell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. ¹⁴That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about ³half an acre of land.

¹⁵And ^kthere was ⁴trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and ^lthe raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was ^ma very great trembling. ¹⁶Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they ⁿwent here and there. ¹⁷Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. ¹⁸And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ⁵ark of God here” (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel). ¹⁹Now it happened, while Saul ^otalked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” ²⁰Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed ^pevery man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion. ²¹Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²Likewise all the men of Israel who ^qhad hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. ^23rSo the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted ^sto Beth Aven.

Saul’s Rash Oath

²⁴And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had ^tplaced the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food. ^25uNow all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was ^vhoney on the ground. ²⁶And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his ⁶countenance brightened. ²⁸Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food this day.’ ” And the people were faint.

²⁹But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”

³¹Now they had ⁷driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint. ³²And the people rushed on the ⁸spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them ^wwith the blood. ³³Then they told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood!”

So he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a large stone to me this day.” ³⁴Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, ‘Bring me here every man’s ox and every man’s sheep, slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there. ³⁵Then Saul ^xbuilt an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

³⁶Now Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them.”

And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.”

Then the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”

³⁷So Saul ^yasked counsel of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines?…