1 Samuel 13:1-7

Modern English Version

Saul Fails His Commission

13 Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.^[a]

² Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Mikmash and in mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent each to his tent.

³ Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” ⁴ All Israel heard that Saul had struck the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

⁵ The Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, with people like the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and camped in Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. ⁶ When Israel’s fighting men saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in hollows, among rocks, and in cellars and cisterns. ⁷ Some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.

But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.