Jonathan Defeats the Philistines

14 Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who [a]bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of (A)Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. (B)Ahijah the son of Ahitub, (C)Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was (D)wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over (E)to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah.

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these (F)uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord (G)from saving by many or by few.”

So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”

Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and (H)this will be a sign to us.”

11 So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have (I)hidden.” 12 Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will [b]show you something.”

Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” 13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they (J)fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. 14 That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about [c]half an acre of land.

15 And (K)there was [d]trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and (L)the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was (M)a very great trembling. 16 Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they (N)went here and there. 17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. 18 And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the [e]ark of God here” (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel). 19 Now it happened, while Saul (O)talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed (P)every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion. 21 Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who (Q)had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 (R)So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted (S)to Beth Aven.

Saul’s Rash Oath

24 And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had (T)placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food. 25 (U)Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was (V)honey on the ground. 26 And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his [f]countenance brightened. 28 Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food this day.’ ” And the people were faint.

29 But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”

31 Now they had [g]driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint. 32 And the people rushed on the [h]spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them (W)with the blood. 33 Then they told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood!”

So he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a large stone to me this day.” 34 Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, ‘Bring me here every man’s ox and every man’s sheep, slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there. 35 Then Saul (X)built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

36 Now Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them.”

And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.”

Then the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”

37 So Saul (Y)asked counsel of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But (Z)He did not answer him that day. 38 And Saul said, (AA)“Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today. 39 For (AB)as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But not a man among all the people answered him. 40 Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side.”

And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”

41 Therefore Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, (AC)“Give[i] a perfect lot.(AD)So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. 42 And Saul said, “Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me.” So Jonathan was taken. 43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, (AE)“Tell me what you have done.”

And Jonathan told him, and said, (AF)“I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!”

44 Saul answered, (AG)“God do so and more also; (AH)for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

45 But the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! (AI)As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked (AJ)with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

46 Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

Saul’s Continuing Wars

47 So Saul established his sovereignty over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the people of (AK)Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of (AL)Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he [j]harassed them. 48 And he gathered an army and (AM)attacked[k] the Amalekites, and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.

49 (AN)The sons of Saul were Jonathan, [l]Jishui, and Malchishua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger (AO)Michal. 50 The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s (AP)uncle. 51 (AQ)Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

52 Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, (AR)he took him for himself.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 14:1 carried
  2. 1 Samuel 14:12 teach
  3. 1 Samuel 14:14 Lit. half the area plowed by a yoke of oxen in a day
  4. 1 Samuel 14:15 terror
  5. 1 Samuel 14:18 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX ephod
  6. 1 Samuel 14:27 Lit. eyes
  7. 1 Samuel 14:31 Lit. struck
  8. 1 Samuel 14:32 plunder
  9. 1 Samuel 14:41 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. Why do You not answer Your servant today? If the injustice is with me or Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give proof; and if You say it is with Your people Israel, give holiness.
  10. 1 Samuel 14:47 LXX, Vg. prospered
  11. 1 Samuel 14:48 Lit. struck
  12. 1 Samuel 14:49 Abinadab, 1 Chr. 8:33; 9:39

31 And (A)many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said [a]to them, (B)“I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I (C)go to Him who sent Me. 34 You (D)will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you (E)cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to (F)the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

37 (G)On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, (H)“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 (I)He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, (J)out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 (K)But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those [b]believing in Him would receive; for the [c]Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet (L)glorified.

Who Is He?

40 Therefore [d]many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is (M)the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is (N)the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 (O)Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, (P)where David was?” 43 So (Q)there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now (R)some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

46 The officers answered, (S)“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50 Nicodemus (T)(he who came to [e]Jesus [f]by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 (U)“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for (V)no prophet [g]has arisen out of Galilee.”

An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World

53 [h]And everyone went to his own house.

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Footnotes

  1. John 7:33 NU, M omit to them
  2. John 7:39 NU who believed
  3. John 7:39 NU omits Holy
  4. John 7:40 NU some
  5. John 7:50 Lit. Him
  6. John 7:50 NU before
  7. John 7:52 NU is to rise
  8. John 7:53 NU brackets 7:53 through 8:11 as not in the original text. They are present in over 900 mss. of John.

Plea for Judgment of False Accusers

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

109 Do(A) not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a (B)lying tongue.
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me (C)without a cause.
In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
Thus (D)they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

Set a wicked man over him,
And let (E)an [a]accuser stand at his right hand.
When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And (F)let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be (G)few,
And (H)let another take his office.
(I)Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children [b]continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them [c]seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 (J)Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 (K)Let his [d]posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their (L)name be blotted out.

14 (M)Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother (N)be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may (O)cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the (P)broken in heart.
17 (Q)As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it (R)enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.

21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone (S)like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My (T)knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become (U)a reproach to them;
When they look at me, (V)they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 (W)That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 (X)Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let (Y)Your servant rejoice.
29 (Z)Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, (AA)I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For (AB)He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those [e]who condemn him.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 109:6 Heb. satan
  2. Psalm 109:10 wander continuously
  3. Psalm 109:10 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. be cast out
  4. Psalm 109:13 descendants be destroyed
  5. Psalm 109:31 Lit. judging his soul

(A)A fool despises his father’s instruction,
(B)But he who [a]receives correction is prudent.

In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.

The lips of the wise [b]disperse knowledge,
But the heart of the fool does not do so.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 15:5 Lit. keeps
  2. Proverbs 15:7 spread

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