1 Samuel 13-14 (Contemporary English Version)

1 Samuel 13

Saul Disobeys the LORD

 ¹Saul was a young man ^[a] when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years. ²Then ^[b] he chose three thousand men from Israel to be full-time soldiers and sent everyone else ^[c] home. Two thousand of these troops stayed with him in the hills around Michmash and Bethel. The other thousand were stationed with Jonathan ^[d] at Gibeah ^[e] in the territory of Benjamin. ³Jonathan led an attack on the Philistine army camp at Geba. ^[f] The Philistine camp was destroyed, but ^[g] the other Philistines heard what had happened. Then Saul told his messengers, "Go to every village in the country. Give a signal with the trumpet, and when the people come together, tell them what has happened." ⁴The messengers then said to the people of Israel, "Saul has destroyed the Philistine army camp at Geba. ^[h] Now the Philistines really hate Israel, so every town and village must send men to join Saul's army at Gilgal." ⁵The Philistines called their army together to fight Israel. They had three thousand ^[i] chariots, six thousand cavalry, and as many foot soldiers as there are grains of sand on the beach. They went to Michmash and set up camp there east of Beth-Aven. ^{[j] 6}The Israelite army realized that they were outnumbered and were going to lose the battle. Some of the Israelite men hid in caves or in clumps of bushes, ^[k] and some ran to places where they could hide among large rocks. Others hid in tombs ^[l] or in deep dry pits. ⁷Still others ^[m] went to Gad and Gilead on the other side of the Jordan River. Saul stayed at Gilgal. His soldiers were shaking with fear, ⁸and they were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do, ^[n] but Samuel did not come. ⁹Finally, Saul commanded, "Bring me some animals, so we can offer sacrifices to please the LORD and ask for his help." Saul killed one of the animals, ¹⁰and just as he was placing it on the altar, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to welcome him.

    ¹¹"What have you done?" Samuel asked.

   Saul answered, "My soldiers were leaving in all directions, and you didn't come when you were supposed to. The Philistines were gathering at Michmash, ¹²and I was worried that they would attack me here at Gilgal. I hadn't offered a sacrifice to ask for the LORD's help, so I forced myself to offer a sacrifice on the altar fire."

    ¹³"That was stupid!" Samuel said. "You didn't obey the LORD your God. If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel. ¹⁴But no, you disobeyed, and so the LORD won't choose anyone else from your family to be king. In fact, he has already chosen the one he wants to be the next leader of his people." ¹⁵Then Samuel left Gilgal.

   Part of Saul's army had not deserted him, and he led them to Gibeah in Benjamin to join his other troops. Then he counted them ^[o] and found that he still had six hundred men. ¹⁶Saul, Jonathan, and their army set up camp at Geba in Benjamin. The Philistine army was camped at Michmash.

Jonathan Attacks the Philistines

 ¹⁷Each day they sent out patrols to attack and rob villages and then destroy them. One patrol would go north along the road to Ophrah in the region of Shual. ¹⁸Another patrol would go west along the road to Beth-Horon. A third patrol would go east toward the desert on the road to the ridge that overlooks Zeboim Valley.

    ¹⁹The Philistines would not allow any Israelites to learn how to make iron tools. "If we allowed that," they said, "those worthless Israelites would make swords and spears."

    ^20-21Whenever the Israelites wanted to get an iron point put on a cattle prod, ^[p] they had to go to the Philistines. Even if they wanted to sharpen plow-blades, picks, axes, sickles, ^[q] and pitchforks ^[r] they still had to go to them. And the Philistines charged high prices. ²²So, whenever the Israelite soldiers had to go into battle, none of them had a sword or a spear except Saul and his son Jonathan. ²³The Philistines moved their camp to the pass at Michmash,

1 Samuel 14

 ^1-3and Saul was in Geba ^[s] with his six hundred men. Saul's own tent was set up under a fruit tree ^[t] by the threshing place ^[u] at the edge of town. Ahijah was serving as priest, and one of his jobs was to get answers from the LORD for Saul. Ahijah's father was Ahitub, and his father's brother was Ichabod. Ahijah's grandfather was Phinehas, and his great-grandfather Eli had been the LORD's priest at Shiloh. One day, Jonathan told the soldier who carried his weapons that he wanted to attack the Philistine camp on the other side of the valley. So they slipped out of the Israelite camp without anyone knowing it. Jonathan didn't even tell his father he was leaving.

    ^4-5Jonathan decided to get to the Philistine camp by going through the pass that led between Shiny Cliff and Michmash to the north and Thornbush Cliff ^[v] and Geba to the south. ⁶Jonathan and the soldier who carried his weapons talked as they went toward the Philistine camp. "It's just the two of us against all those godless men," Jonathan said. "But the LORD can help a few soldiers win a battle just as easily as he can help a whole army. Maybe the LORD will help us win this battle."

    ⁷"Do whatever you want," the soldier answered. "I'll be right there with you."

    ⁸"This is what we will do," Jonathan said. "We will go across and let them see us. ⁹If they agree to come down the hill and fight where we are, then we won't climb up to their camp. ¹⁰But we will go if they tell us to come up the hill and fight. That will mean the LORD is going to help us win."

    ^11-12Jonathan and the soldier stood at the bottom of the hill where the Philistines could see them. The Philistines said, "Look! Those worthless Israelites have crawled out of the holes where they've been hiding." Then they yelled down to Jonathan and the soldier, "Come up here, and we will teach you a thing or two!"

   Jonathan turned to the soldier and said, "Follow me! The LORD is going to let us win."

    ¹³Jonathan crawled up the hillside with the soldier right behind him. When they got to the top, Jonathan killed the Philistines who attacked from the front, and the soldier killed those who attacked from behind. ^{[w] 14}Before they had gone a hundred feet, ^[x] they had killed about twenty Philistines. ¹⁵The whole Philistine army panicked--those in camp, those on guard duty, those in the fields, and those on raiding patrols. All of them were afraid and confused. Then God sent an earthquake, and the ground began to tremble. ^[y]

Israel Defeats the Philistines

 ¹⁶Saul's lookouts at Geba ^[z] saw that the Philistine army was running in every direction, like melted wax. ¹⁷Saul told his officers, "Call the roll and find out who left our camp." When they had finished, they found out that Jonathan and the soldier who carried his weapons were missing. ¹⁸At that time, Ahijah was serving as priest for the army of Israel, and Saul told him, "Come over here! Let's ask God what we should do." ^{[aa] 19}Just as Saul finished saying this, he could see that the Philistine army camp was getting more and more confused, and he said, "Ahijah, never mind!" ²⁰Saul quickly called his army together, then led them to the Philistine camp. By this time the Philistines were so confused that they were killing each other.

    ²¹There were also some hired soldiers ^[ab] in the Philistine camp, who now switched to Israel's side and fought for Saul and Jonathan. ²²Many Israelites had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim. And when they heard that the Philistines were running away, they came out of hiding and joined in chasing the Philistines.

    ^23-24So the LORD helped Israel win the battle that day.

   Saul had earlier told his soldiers, "I want to get even with those Philistines by sunset. If any of you eat before then, you will be under a curse!" So he made them swear not to eat.

   By the time the fighting moved past Beth-Aven, ^[ac] the Israelite troops were weak from hunger.

Saul's Curse on Anyone Who Eats

 ^25-26The army and the people who lived nearby had gone into a forest, and they came to a place where honey was dripping on the ground. ^[ad] But no one ate any of it, because they were afraid of being put under the curse. ²⁷Jonathan did not know about Saul's warning to the soldiers. So he dipped the end of his walking stick in the honey and ate some with his fingers. He felt stronger and more alert. ²⁸Then a soldier told him, "Your father swore that anyone who ate food today would be put under a curse, and we agreed not to eat. That's why we're so weak."

    ²⁹Jonathan said, "My father has caused you a lot of trouble. Look at me! I had only a little of this honey, but already I feel strong and alert. ³⁰I wish you had eaten some of the food the Philistines left behind. We would have been able to kill a lot more of them."

    ³¹By evening the Israelite army was exhausted from killing Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. ^{[ae] 32}They grabbed the food they had captured from the Philistines and started eating. They even killed sheep and cows and calves right on the ground and ate the meat without draining the blood. ^{[af] 33}Someone told Saul, "Look! The army is disobeying the LORD by eating meat before the blood drains out." "You're right," Saul answered. "They are being unfaithful to the LORD! Hurry! Roll a big rock over here. ^{[ag] 34}Then tell everyone in camp to bring their cattle and lambs to me. They can kill the animals on this rock, ^[ah] then eat the meat. That way no one will disobey the LORD by eating meat with blood still in it." That night the soldiers brought their cattle over to the big rock and killed them there. ³⁵It was the first altar Saul had built for offering sacrifices to the LORD. ^[ai]

The Army Rescues Jonathan

 ³⁶Saul said, "Let's attack the Philistines again while it's still dark. We can fight them all night. Let's kill them and take everything they own!"

   The people answered, "We will do whatever you want."

   "Wait!" Ahijah the priest said. "Let's ask God what we should do."

    ³⁷Saul asked God, "Should I attack the Philistines? Will you help us win?"

   This time God did not answer. ³⁸Saul called his army officers together and said, "We have to find out what sin has kept God from answering. ³⁹I swear by the living LORD that whoever sinned must die, even if it turns out to be my own son Jonathan."

   No one said a word.

    ⁴⁰Saul told his army, "You stand on that side of the priest, and Jonathan and I will stand on the other side."

   Everyone agreed.

    ⁴¹Then Saul prayed, "Our LORD, God of Israel, why haven't you answered me today? Please show us who sinned. Was it my son Jonathan and I, or was it your people Israel?" ^[aj] The answer came back that Jonathan or Saul had sinned, not the army. ⁴²Saul told Ahijah, "Now ask the LORD to decide between Jonathan and me."

   The answer came back that Jonathan had sinned. ⁴³"Jonathan," Saul exclaimed, "tell me what you did!"

   "I dipped the end of my walking stick in some honey and ate a little. Now you say I have to die!"

    ⁴⁴"Yes, Jonathan. I swear to God that you must die."

    ⁴⁵"No!" the soldiers shouted. "God helped Jonathan win the battle for us. We won't let you kill him. We swear to the LORD that we won't let you kill him or even lay a hand on him!" So the army kept Saul from killing Jonathan.

    ⁴⁶Saul stopped hunting down the Philistines, and they went home.

   

Saul Fights His Enemies

 ^47-48When Saul became king, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, the Philistines, and the Amalekites had all been robbing the Israelites. Saul fought back against these enemies and stopped them from robbing Israel. He was a brave commander and always won his battles. ^[ak]

Saul's Family

 ^49-51Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. They had three sons: Jonathan, Ishvi, ^[al] and Malchishua. They also had two daughters: The older one was Merab, and the younger one was Michal. Abner, Saul's cousin, was the commander of the army. Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were sons of Abiel.

   

War with the Philistines

 ⁵²Saul was at war with the Philistines for as long as he lived. Whenever he found a good warrior or a brave man, Saul made him join his army.