1 SamuelChapter 14

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¹One day Jonathan son of Saul spoke to the young man who carried his armor. He said, "Come on, let's go over to the Philistine camp on the other side." But Jonathan did not tell his father. ²Meanwhile, Saul was staying at the edge of Gibeah. He was under the pomegranate tree in Migron. About six hundred men were with him. ³Ahijah was one of them, and he was wearing an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother. Ahitub was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one knew that Jonathan had left. ⁴Jonathan planned to go through a narrow pass to get to the Philistine camp. There was a steep cliff on each side of the pass. One cliff was named Bozez, and the other was named Seneh. ⁵One cliff stood on the north side, facing Michmash. The other stood on the south side, facing Geba. ⁶Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come on, let's go over to the camp of these men who are not circumcised. Maybe the LORD will act for us. Nothing can stop the LORD from saving. He can save with many or with only a few." ⁷The man who carried his armor said, "Do whatever you have in mind. Go ahead. I am with you all the way." ⁸"All right," Jonathan said. "We'll go over toward those men and let them see us. ⁹They might say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you.' If they do, we'll stay where we are. We won't go up to them. ¹⁰But they might say, 'Come up here to us.' If they do, we'll go up. That will be our sign that the LORD has handed them over to us." ¹¹So the two of them let the Philistine soldiers see them. The Philistines shouted, "Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes where they were hiding!" ¹²The men of the camp yelled to Jonathan and the man who carried his armor. "Come on up here, and we'll teach you a lesson!" they said. Jonathan said to the man with his armor, "Follow me, because the LORD has handed them over to Israel." ¹³So Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet. The man with his armor was right behind him. The Philistines fell in front of Jonathan. The man with his armor came after him and killed them. ¹⁴In that first attack, Jonathan and the man with his armor killed about twenty men. It happened in an area about half an acre in size. ¹⁵Then terror struck the Philistines. It spread through the camp, the field, and all the people. Even the soldiers in the camps and the raiding parties shook with fear. The ground shook too. It was a panic sent by God. ¹⁶Saul's lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin were watching. They saw the Philistine army melting away. Soldiers were running in every direction. ¹⁷Then Saul said to the men who were with him, "Count the men. See who has left us." When they counted, they found that Jonathan and the man who carried his armor were missing. ¹⁸Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God here." (At that time it was with the Israelites.)a ¹⁹While Saul was talking to the priest, the noise and confusion in the Philistine camp kept getting louder. So Saul said to the priest, "Pull your hand back." ²⁰Then Saul and all his men gathered and went into the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion. They were striking each other with their swords. ²¹Before this, some Hebrews had gone over to the Philistine side. They had been in the camps all around. Now they switched sides. They joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²Other Israelites had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim. They heard that the Philistines were running away. So they joined the battle too and chased right after them. ²³So the LORD saved Israel that day. And the battle moved on past Beth-aven. ²⁴The men of Israel were in great distress that day. Saul had made them swear an oath. He had said, "A curse on any man who eats food before evening, before I have paid back my enemies!" So none of the men tasted any food. ²⁵Then all the army went into the forest. There was honey on the ground. ²⁶They went into the forest and saw the honey dripping. But no one put his hand to his mouth, because they were afraid of the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan had not heard that his father had made the people swear the oath. So he reached out the tip of the stick in his hand. He dipped it into the honeycomb. He put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes lit up. ²⁸Then one of the soldiers told him, "Your father made the army swear a serious oath. He said, 'A curse on any man who eats food today!' That's why the men are so weak." ²⁹Jonathan said, "My father has brought trouble on the land. Look how my eyes have lit up because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰It would have been much better if the men had eaten freely today. They could have eaten the food they took from their enemies. Then wouldn't we have killed many more Philistines?" ³¹That day the Israelites struck down the Philistines from Michmash all the way to Aijalon. After that, the people were very weak and tired. ³²So they rushed to grab what they had taken from the enemy. They took sheep, cattle, and calves. They killed them right on the ground. Then they ate the meat with the blood still in it. ³³Then someone told Saul, "Look, the men are sinning against the LORD. They are eating meat with the blood still in it." Saul said, "You have been unfaithful! Roll a big stone over here right now." ³⁴Then he said, "Go out among the men. Tell them, 'Each man must bring me his ox or his sheep. Kill it here, and then eat. Don't sin against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.'" So that night every man brought his ox and killed it there. ³⁵Then Saul built an altar to the LORD. It was the first altar he had ever built to the LORD. ³⁶Saul said, "Let's go down after the Philistines tonight. We'll take everything they have until morning. Let's not leave even one of them alive!" The men answered, "Do whatever you think is best." But the priest said, "Let's ask God about it here first." ³⁷So Saul asked God, "Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you hand them over to Israel?" But God did not answer him that day. ³⁸So Saul said, "All you leaders of the army, come here. Let's find out what sin was done today. ³⁹As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!" But not one of the men said a word. ⁴⁰Then Saul said to all Israel, "You stand on one side. My son Jonathan and I will stand on the other side." The men answered, "Do whatever you think is best." ⁴¹Then Saul prayed to the LORD, the God of Israel. "Why haven't you answered me, your servant, today? If the fault is with me or my son Jonathan, answer with the Urim. But if the fault is with the men of Israel, answer with the Thummim." Jonathan and Saul were chosen by the lot. The people were found not guilty.b ⁴²Then Saul said, "Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan." And Jonathan was chosen. ⁴³Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him. "I only tasted a little honey," he said. "I used the tip of the stick in my hand. And now I have to die?" ⁴⁴Saul said, "Jonathan, you must surely die! If you don't, may God punish me, and punish me hard!" ⁴⁵But the people said to Saul, "Should Jonathan die? He is the one who won this great victory for Israel! Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not one hair on his head will fall to the ground. He did this today with God's help." So the people saved Jonathan, and he did not die. ⁴⁶Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines. And the Philistines went back to their own land. ⁴⁷After Saul became king over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side. He fought the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Everywhere he went, he beat them. ⁴⁸He fought bravely and defeated the Amalekites. He saved Israel from the people who had been robbing them. ⁴⁹Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. He had two daughters. The older one was named Merab. The younger one was named Michal. ⁵⁰Saul's wife was named Ahinoam. She was the daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of Saul's army was named Abner. He was the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. ⁵¹Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were both sons of Abiel. ⁵²There was hard fighting with the Philistines as long as Saul lived. So whenever Saul saw a strong or brave man, he made him join his army.