1 Samuel 13

²And Saul chose for himself three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent each man to his tent.

³And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba; and the Philistines heard, and Saul blew the ram's horn throughout all the land, saying, 'Let the Hebrews hear!'

⁴And 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 summoned to follow Saul at Gilgal.

⁵And the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand that is on the shore of the sea in abundance; and they came up and encamped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in distress — for the people were hard pressed — the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in crags, in strongholds, and in pits.

⁷And some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; and Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people trembled after him.

⁸And he waited seven days, until the appointed time that Samuel had set; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to scatter from him.

⁹And Saul said, 'Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings to me'; and he offered up the burnt offering.

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

¹¹And Samuel said, 'What have you done?' And Saul said, 'Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and you did not come at the appointed time, and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash.

¹²And I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and the face of the Lord I have not entreated'; so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.

¹³And Samuel said to Saul, 'You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

¹⁴But now your kingdom will not stand; the Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as leader over his people — for you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

¹⁵Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were found with him — about six hundred men.

¹⁶And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people who were found with them, were staying at Geba of Benjamin; and the Philistines had encamped at Michmash.

¹⁷And the raiding force went out from the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual.

¹⁸And one company turned toward the way to Beth-horon, and one company turned toward the way to the border that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now no blacksmith was to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, 'Lest the Hebrews make a sword or a spear.'

²⁰And all Israel would go down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his plowshare.

²¹And the price was a pim for the plowshares, and for the mattocks, and for the three-pronged forks, and for the axes, and for setting the goads.

²²And it came to pass on the day of battle that no sword or spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.

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