1 Samuel 13:15-22

New International Reader's Version

¹⁵ Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. Saul counted the men who were with him. The total number was about 600.

Israel Doesn’t Have Weapons

¹⁶ Saul and his son Jonathan were staying in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. The men who remained in the army were there with them. At the same time, the Philistines camped at Mikmash. ¹⁷ Three groups of soldiers went out from the Philistine camp to attack Israel. One group turned and went toward Ophrah in the area of Shual. ¹⁸ Another went toward Beth Horon. The third went toward the border that looked out over the Valley of Zeboim. That valley faces the desert.

¹⁹ There weren’t any blacksmiths in the whole land of Israel. That’s because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews might hire them to make swords or spears!” ²⁰ So all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines. They had to go to them to get their plows, hoes, axes and sickles sharpened. ²¹ It cost a fourth of an ounce of silver to sharpen a plow or a hoe. It cost an eighth of an ounce to sharpen a pitchfork or an axe. That’s also what it cost to put new tips on the large sticks used to drive oxen.

²² So the Israelite soldiers went out to battle without swords or spears in their hands. That was true for all of Saul’s and Jonathan’s soldiers. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had those weapons.