Jonathan attacks the Philistines

13 Saul was 30 years old when he became king. He ruled Israel as king for 42 years.^{[a] 2} He chose 3,000 men from Israel's army to be with him. 2,000 of those men stayed with him at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel. Then 1,000 men were with his son Jonathan at Gibeah, in the land of Benjamin's tribe. Saul sent all the other men of the army back to their homes.

³ Some Philistine soldiers had a camp at Geba. Jonathan attacked them there and all the Philistines heard about it. Saul sent a message through all Israel to warn people of the danger. He said, ‘Listen, all you Hebrew people!’^{[b] 4} Everyone in Israel heard this message: ‘Saul has attacked the Philistines' camp. Now the Philistines hate the Israelites even more than they did before.’ So all the soldiers in Israel came to join Saul at Gilgal.

Saul prepares to fight the Philistines

⁵ The Philistines' army came together to fight against the Israelites. The Philistines had 3,000 chariots. They had 6,000 soldiers who rode on horses. Their whole army had more soldiers than the sand on the shore of the sea! The Philistine army went to make their camp at Michmash, which was east of Beth Aven. ⁶ The Israelites realized that they would be in big trouble if the Philistines attacked them. Some of them went and hid in caves or among the bushes. Others hid among the rocks, in holes in the ground or in wells. ⁷ Some of the Israelite soldiers crossed the Jordan River. They escaped to the land of Gad and Gilead.

Saul himself stayed at Gilgal. All the soldiers that were still with him were shaking with fear. ⁸ Samuel had told Saul that he must wait for him to come to Gilgal. Saul waited for seven days as Samuel had said. But Samuel still had not arrived. Saul's army began to leave him.

⁹ So Saul said, ‘Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings to me.’ Then Saul offered the burnt offering to God. ¹⁰ Just as he finished doing that, Samuel arrived. Saul went to meet Samuel and to say ‘hello’.

¹¹ Samuel asked Saul, ‘What have you done?’

Saul replied, ‘The soldiers were starting to leave me. You had not arrived here at the time that you said you would come. I could see that the Philistine soldiers were preparing for battle at Michmash. ¹² I thought that they would come to attack me at Gilgal. I thought, “Before they do that, I must ask the Lord to help us in the fight.” Because of that, I had to offer the burnt offering to him.’

¹³ Samuel said, ‘You have done a foolish thing. You have not obeyed the command of the Lord your God. If you had obeyed the Lord, he would have let you and your family rule Israel for ever. ¹⁴ But because of what you have done, your kingdom will not continue. Instead, the Lord will find a man who pleases him. The Lord has decided that this man will become the leader of his people, instead of you. He will do that because you have not obeyed his command.’

¹⁵ After that, Samuel left Gilgal. He went to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin's tribe. Saul counted the soldiers who were still with him. There were about 600 men.

¹⁶ Saul and his son Jonathan were staying in Geba, in the land of Benjamin's tribe. They had their soldiers with them there.

The Philistines had their camp at Michmash. ¹⁷ The Philistines sent out three small groups of soldiers to attack towns in Israel. One group went towards Ophrah in the land of Shual. ¹⁸ The second group went towards Beth Horon. The third group went to Israel's border where they could see across Zeboim Valley towards the wilderness.

¹⁹ At that time, there were no people in Israel who could use iron to make things. The Philistines had said, ‘We must not let the Hebrew people make swords and spears.’ ²⁰ So the Israelites had to ask the Philistines to mend their ploughs, axes, hoes and knives that they used on their farms. ²¹ The Israelites had to pay eight grams of silver for the Philistines to make each plough or hoe sharp again. They paid four grams of silver for each axe, knife or ox-goad.^[c]

²² So when the fight started, the soldiers that were with Saul and Jonathan did not have any swords or spears. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Jonathan attacks the Philistines

²³ A group of Philistine soldiers went to the narrow road across the hills at Michmash.

15 Some of us trust God with strong faith. We must help those believers whose faith is weaker. We must be patient with them. We should not just do things that will make us happy ourselves. ² Instead, each of us should do things that will make other believers happy. We should help them to trust God more strongly. ³ Even Christ did not just do things that would make himself happy. It is written in the Bible that he said this: ‘People have insulted you, God. In that way they have also insulted me.’^[a]

⁴ Everything that people wrote in the Bible in past times is there to teach us something. Those words help us to be patient and strong. As a result, we can trust God to do what he has promised.

⁵ It is God himself who helps us to be patient and strong. So I pray that he will help you to agree with each other and to be friends. That is how Christ Jesus wants you to live. ⁶ As a result, all of you will praise God together with the same thoughts. You will all agree that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is very great.

Christ saves both Jews and Gentiles

⁷ Christ has accepted you, so you must accept each other. In that way you will be praising God. ⁸ Remember this: Christ became a servant of the Jews so that they could understand God's true message. He showed them that God has now done what he promised to their ancestors.^{[b] 9} The Gentiles also praise God because he has been kind to them. This is written in the Bible:

¹⁰ It says also in the Bible:

¹¹ It also says this:

¹² God's prophet Isaiah says this:

¹³ God is the one who causes us to hope for good things. I pray that God will bless you very much. I pray that he will cause you to be happy and to have peace in your minds. He will do this because you believe in him. As a result, God's Holy Spirit will make you strong with his power, so that you hope even more certainly.

Paul's reason for writing this letter

¹⁴ My Christian friends, I myself am completely sure that you are always good. You know everything about God's message, so that you are able to teach one another what is right. ¹⁵ I know that is true, but I still needed to write this letter to you. I have written to you strongly, so that you would remember certain things. Because God is kind, he has chosen me to serve him in this way. ¹⁶ I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I tell people God's good news. I work like a priest so that God will accept the Gentiles. I offer them to God. The Holy Spirit has made them clean and so God accepts them.

¹⁷ So I can be proud about my work. I can serve God well because I belong to Christ Jesus. ¹⁸ But I will only speak about the work that Christ has made me able to do. I have lived among the Gentiles and I have spoken God's message to them. They have obeyed God as a result of Christ's work through me. ¹⁹ God's Holy Spirit used his power to do many miracles. He caused many great and powerful things to happen. As a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to many people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.^[g]

²⁰ I want to go to places where nobody has ever told people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to people in those places. That is what I have always wanted to do. I do not want to work in a place where someone else has already started to teach God's message. ²¹ This is written in the Bible about God's Messiah:

Paul hopes to visit Rome

²² That is why, many times, I have not had a chance to visit you. ²³ For many years I have been waiting for the chance to come. But now I have finished my work in these places here. ²⁴ So I hope to visit you while I am travelling to Spain. I will stay with you in Rome for a short time. I will really enjoy having some time together with you there. Then you can help me to continue my journey.

²⁵ But now, I am ready to go to Jerusalem to help God's people there. ²⁶ Some of them are poor, and the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they got some money to send to those people. ²⁷ The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia were happy to share what they had.^[i] But really, they have a duty to help the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It is the Jews who shared good things from God to help the Gentiles in their spirits. So now the Gentiles ought to help the Jewish Christians with things that they need for their bodies.

²⁸ So I must take their gift safely to the Christians in Jerusalem. When I have finished that job, I will come to visit you. Then I will continue my journey to Spain. ²⁹ When I visit you, I know that Christ will bless us very much while we are together.

³⁰ My Christian friends, please pray for me as I do this difficult work. Together we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. God's Spirit has given us love for each other. So I ask you to help me and to pray with me. ³¹ Pray that God will keep me safe from those people in Judea who have refused to believe in Jesus. Pray also that God's people at Jerusalem will happily accept the gift that I am taking to them.^[j]

³² If God agrees, I will then be able to come to you, and we will be happy together. I will enjoy having some rest while I stay there with you. ³³ I pray that God will give you peace in your minds. I pray that he will be with all of you and help you. Amen.