1 Samuel 13:1-14:35

Jubilee Bible 2000

13 ¶ Saul was as a son of one year when he began to reign, and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

² Saul chose three thousand men of Israel, of which two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in Mount Bethel and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and of the rest of the people he sent each one to his tent.

³ And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul caused the shofar to be blown throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

⁴ And all Israel heard it said that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines and also that Israel had become a stench unto the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

⁵ Then the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude; and they came up and pitched camp in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.

⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits.

⁷ And some of the Hebrews went over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸ ¶ And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were deserting from him.

⁹ Then Saul said, Bring me a burnt offering and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.

¹⁰ And it came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him that he might bless him.

¹¹ Then Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were leaving me and that thou didst not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash,

¹² therefore, I said, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD. I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

¹³ Then Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee, for now the LORD would have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever.

¹⁴ But now thy kingdom shall not stand; the LORD has sought a man after his own heart unto whom the LORD has commanded that he be captain over his people because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

¹⁵ ¶ And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.

¹⁶ And Saul and Jonathan, his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.

¹⁷ And three companies came out of the camp of the Philistines to destroy the land. One company turned unto the way that leads to Ophrah unto the land of Shual.

¹⁸ Another company turned the way to Bethhoron, and another company turned to the way of the border that looks to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹ Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, Lest peradventure the Hebrews make swords or spears.

²⁰ But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen each man his share and his coulter and his axe and his mattock

²¹ and when they had nicks in the mattocks and the coulters and the forks and the axes, or to fix a goad.

²² So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan except with Saul and with Jonathan his son who had them.

²³ And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.

14 ¶ Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said unto the young man that bore his armour, Come and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father.

² And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron, and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;

³ and Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing the ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.

⁴ And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side; and the name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other Seneh.

⁵ The forefront of the one was situated northward over against Michmash and the other towards the Negev over against Gibeah.

⁶ And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour, Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised; peradventure the LORD will work for us, for it is not difficult for the LORD to save by many or by few.

⁷ And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thy heart; go. Behold, I am with thee according to thy will.

⁸ Then Jonathan said, Behold, we will go over unto these men, and we will show ourselves unto them.

⁹ If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and will not go up unto them.

¹⁰ But if they say thus, Come up unto us, then we will go up, for the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us.

¹¹ And both of them showed themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.

¹² And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. Then Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.

¹³ And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet and his armourbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan, and his armourbearer slew after him.

¹⁴ And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armourbearer made was about twenty men within as it were a half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.

¹⁵ And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people of the garrison; and those who had gone out to destroy the land, they also trembled, and the earth quaked, and there was fear of God.

¹⁶ ¶ And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.

¹⁷ Then Saul said unto the people that were with him, Number now and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.

¹⁸ And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the sons of Israel.

¹⁹ And it came to pass while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased. Then Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thy hand.

²⁰ And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle; and, behold, each man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.

²¹ Moreover, the Hebrews that had been with the Philistines before that time, who had gone up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.

²² Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle.

²³ So the LORD saved Israel that day; and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.

²⁴ ¶ But the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food until evening that I may be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.

²⁵ And the army of all the land came to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground.

²⁶ And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard when his father charged the people with the oath, therefore, he put forth 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 eyes were enlightened.

²⁸ Then one of the people spoke and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food this day. And the people were faint.

²⁹ Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. See, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰ How much more if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? Would there not have been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?

³¹ And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon, but the people were very faint.

³² Therefore, the people flew upon the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slew them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood.

³³ Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed; roll a great stone unto me this day.

³⁴ And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people and tell each one to bring his ox and his sheep here unto me and slay them here and eat and do not sin against the LORD in eating with the blood. And of all the people, each one brought his ox with him that night and slew them there.

³⁵ And Saul built an altar unto the LORD; the same was the first altar that he built unto the LORD.