1 Samuel 13–31

¹A son of a year is Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel, ²and Saul chooseth for himself three thousand men out of Israel; and two thousand are with Saul in Michmash, and in the hill-country of Beth-El; and a thousand have been with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the remnant of the people he hath sent each to his tents. ³And Jonathan smiteth the garrison of the Philistines which is in Geba, and the Philistines hear, and Saul hath blown with a trumpet through all the land, saying, ‘Let the Hebrews hear.’ ⁴And all Israel have heard, saying, ‘Saul hath smitten the garrison of the Philistines,’ and also, ‘Israel hath been abhorred by the Philistines;’ and the people are called after Saul to Gilgal. ⁵And the Philistines have been gathered to fight with Israel; thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a people as the sand which is on the sea-shore for multitude; and they come up and encamp in Michmash, east of Beth-Aven. ⁶And the men of Israel have seen that they are distressed, that the people hath been oppressed, and the people hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. ⁷And Hebrews have passed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; and Saul is yet in Gilgal, and all the people have trembled after him.

⁸And he waiteth seven days, according to the appointment with Samuel, and Samuel hath not come to Gilgal, and the people are scattered from off him. ⁹And Saul saith, ‘Bring nigh unto me the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings;’ and he causeth the burnt-offering to ascend. ¹⁰And it cometh to pass at his completing to cause the burnt-offering to ascend, that lo, Samuel hath come, and Saul goeth out to meet him, to bless him; ¹¹and Samuel saith, ‘What hast thou done?’ And Saul saith, ‘Because I saw that the people were scattered from off me, and thou hadst not come at the appointment of the days, and the Philistines are gathered to Michmash, ¹²and I say, Now do the Philistines come down unto me to Gilgal, and the face of Jehovah I have not appeased; and I force myself, and cause the burnt-offering to ascend.’ ¹³And Samuel saith unto Saul, ‘Thou hast been foolish; thou hast not kept the command of Jehovah thy God, which He commanded thee, for now had Jehovah established thy kingdom over Israel unto the age; ¹⁴and, now, thy kingdom doth not stand, Jehovah hath sought for Himself a man according to His own heart, and Jehovah chargeth him for leader over His people, for thou hast not kept that which Jehovah commanded thee.’

¹⁵And Samuel riseth, and goeth up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin; and Saul inspecteth the people who are found with him, about six hundred men, ¹⁶and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who are found with them, are abiding in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the Philistines have encamped in Michmash. ¹⁷And the destroyer goeth out from the camp of the Philistines—three detachments; the one detachment turneth unto the way of Ophrah, unto the land of Shual; ¹⁸and the one detachment turneth the way of Beth-Horon, and the one detachment turneth the way of the border which is looking on the valley of the Zeboim, toward the wilderness. ¹⁹And an artificer is not found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, ‘Lest the Hebrews make sword or spear;’ ²⁰and all Israel go down to the Philistines, to sharpen each his ploughshare, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock; ²¹and there hath been the file for mattocks, and for coulters, and for three-pronged rakes, and for the axes, and to set up the goads. ²²And it hath been, in the day of battle, that there hath not been found sword and spear in the hand of any of the people who are with Saul and with Jonathan—and there is found to Saul and to Jonathan his son. ²³And the station of the Philistines goeth out unto the passage of Michmash.

Chapter 14

¹And the day cometh that Jonathan son of Saul saith unto the young man bearing his weapons, ‘Come, and we pass over unto the station of the Philistines, which is on the other side of this;’ and to his father he hath not declared it. ²And Saul is abiding at the extremity of Gibeah, under the pomegranate which is in Migron, and the people who are with him, about six hundred men, ³and Ahiah, son of Ahitub, brother of I-Chabod, son of Phinehas son of Eli priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, bearing an ephod; and the people knew not that Jonathan hath gone. ⁴And between the passages where Jonathan sought to pass over unto the station of the Philistines is the edge of a rock on the one side, and the edge of a rock on the other side, and the name of the one is Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵The one edge is fixed on the north over-against Michmash, and the one on the south over-against Gibeah. ⁶And Jonathan saith unto the young man bearing his weapons, ‘Come, and we pass over unto the station of these uncircumcised; it may be Jehovah doth work for us, for there is no restraint to Jehovah to save by many or by few.’ ⁷And the bearer of his weapons saith to him, ‘Do all that is in thy heart; turn for thee; lo, I am with thee, as thine own heart.’ ⁸And Jonathan saith, ‘Lo, we are passing over unto the men, and are revealed unto them; ⁹if thus they say unto us, ‘Stand still till we have come unto you,’ then we have stood in our place, and do not go up unto them; ¹⁰and if thus they say, ‘Come up against us,’ then we have gone up, for Jehovah hath given them into our hand, and this to us is the sign. ¹¹And revealed are both of them unto the station of the Philistines, and the Philistines say, ‘Lo, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hid themselves.’ ¹²And the men of the station answer Jonathan, and the bearer of his weapons, and say, ‘Come up unto us, and we cause you to know something.’ And Jonathan saith unto the bearer of his weapons, ‘Come up after me, for Jehovah hath given them into the hand of Israel.’ ¹³And Jonathan goeth up on his hands, and on his feet, and the bearer of his weapons after him; and they fall before Jonathan, and the bearer of his weapons is putting to death after him. ¹⁴And the first smiting which Jonathan and the bearer of his weapons have smitten is of about twenty men, in about half a furrow of a yoke of a field, ¹⁵and there is a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people, the station and the destroyers have trembled—even they, and the earth shaketh, and it becometh a trembling of God.

¹⁶And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin see, and lo, the multitude hath melted away, and it goeth on, and is beaten down. ¹⁷And Saul saith to the people who are with him, ‘Inspect, I pray you, and see; who hath gone from us?’ and they inspect, and lo, Jonathan and the bearer of his weapons are not. ¹⁸And Saul saith to Ahiah, ‘Bring nigh the ark of God;’ for the ark of God hath been on that day with the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And it cometh to pass, while Saul spake unto the priest, that the noise which is in the camp of the Philistines goeth on, going on and becoming great, and Saul saith unto the priest, ‘Remove thy hand.’ ²⁰And Saul is called, and all the people who are with him, and they come in unto the battle, and, lo, the sword of each hath been against his neighbour—a very great destruction. ²¹And the Hebrews who have been for the Philistines as heretofore, who had gone up with them into the camp, have turned round, even they, to be with Israel who are with Saul and Jonathan, ²²and all the men of Israel, who are hiding themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, have heard that the Philistines have fled, and they pursue—even they—after them in battle. ²³And Jehovah saveth Israel on that day, and the battle hath passed over to Beth-Aven.

²⁴And the men of Israel have been distressed on that day, and Saul adjureth the people, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eateth food till the evening, and I have been avenged of mine enemies;’ and none of the people hath tasted food. ²⁵And all they of the land have come into a forest, and there is honey on the face of the field; ²⁶and the people come in unto the forest, and lo, the honey dropped, and none is moving his hand unto his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷And Jonathan hath not heard of his father’s adjuring the people, and putteth forth the end of the rod, which is in his hand, and dippeth it in the honeycomb, and bringeth back his hand unto his mouth—and his eyes see! ²⁸And a man of the people answereth and saith, ‘Thy father certainly adjured the people, saying, Cursed is the man who eateth food to-day; and the people are weary.’ ²⁹And Jonathan saith, ‘My father hath troubled the land; see, I pray you, that mine eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much more if the people had well eaten to-day of the spoil of its enemies which it hath found, for now, the smiting hath not been great among the Philistines.’ ³¹And they smite on that day among the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people are very weary, ³²and the people make unto the spoil, and take sheep, and oxen, and sons of the herd, and slaughter on the earth, and the people eat with the blood. ³³And they declare to Saul, saying, ‘Lo, the people are sinning against Jehovah, to eat with the blood.’ And he saith, ‘Ye have dealt treacherously, roll unto me to-day a great stone.’ ³⁴And Saul saith, ‘Be ye scattered among the people, and ye have said to them, Bring ye nigh unto me each his ox, and each his sheep; and ye have slain them in this place, and eaten, and ye do not sin against Jehovah to eat with the blood.’ And all the people bring nigh each his ox, in his hand, that night, and slaughter them there. ³⁵And Saul buildeth an alter to Jehovah; with it he hath begun to build altars to Jehovah.

³⁶And Saul saith, ‘Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and we prey upon them till the light of the morning, and leave not a man of them.’ And they say, ‘All that is good in thine eyes do.’ And the priest saith, ‘Let us…