1 Samuel 14

¹And one day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man carrying his armor, 'Come, let us cross over to the garrison of the Philistines that is on the other side there'; but he did not tell his father.

²Now Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men.

³— and Ahijah the son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod the son of Phinehas the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord at Shiloh, was bearing the ephod — and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

⁴Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other was Seneh.

⁵One crag was a cliff on the north side, opposite Michmash, and the other was on the south side, opposite Geba.

⁶And Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, 'Come, let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. Perhaps the LORD will work for us, for nothing hinders the LORD from saving by many or by few.'

⁷And his armor-bearer said to him, 'Do whatever is in your heart; go ahead — look, I am with you, according to your heart.'

⁸And Jonathan said, 'Look, we will cross over to these men and reveal ourselves to them.

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

¹⁰But if they say thus, 'Come up to us,' we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hand — and this will be the sign for us.

¹¹And both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, 'Look, Hebrews are coming out from the holes where they had hidden!'

¹²And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, 'Come up to us and we will show you something.' And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, 'Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.'

¹³And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, with his armor-bearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer was killing behind him.

¹⁴And the first slaughter that Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck was about twenty men, within about half a furrow's length in an acre of field.

¹⁵And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people — the garrison and the raiders trembled, they also; and the earth quaked, and it became a panic from God.

¹⁶And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw, and behold — the multitude was melting away and going this way and that.

¹⁷And Saul said to the people who were with him, 'Muster now and see who has gone from us.' And they mustered, and behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.

¹⁸And Saul said to Ahijah, 'Bring near the ark of God' — for the ark of God was there on that day among the children of Israel.

¹⁹And it came to pass, while Saul was yet speaking to the priest, that the tumult which was in the camp of the Philistines went on, growing ever greater; and Saul said to the priest, 'Withdraw your hand.'

²⁰And Saul and all the people with him were mustered, and they came to the battle; and behold, every man's sword was against his fellow — a very great tumult.

²¹Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before, who had gone up with them in the camp all around — they also turned to be with Israel, who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²²And all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, and they also joined hard in the pursuit after them in the battle.

²³So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle crossed over past Beth-aven.

²⁴And the men of Israel were hard-pressed on that day. And Saul had put the people under oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats bread before evening, until I am avenged on my enemies.' And none of the people tasted any bread.

²⁵And all the land came into the forest, and there was honey upon the face of the field.

²⁶And when the people entered the forest, behold, there was a flowing of honey; but no one reached his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷But Jonathan had not heard when his father had sworn the people; so he extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and brought his hand back to his mouth, and his eyes gleamed.

²⁸Then a man from the people answered and said, 'Your father solemnly put the people under oath, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats bread today!" And the people were faint.'

²⁹And Jonathan said, 'My father has troubled the land; see now how my eyes have gleamed because I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰How much more, if only the people had indeed eaten today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.

³¹And they struck the Philistines on that day from Michmash to Aijalon; and the people were very faint.

³²And the people rushed greedily upon the spoil; and they took sheep and cattle and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate with the blood.

³³And they told Saul, saying, 'Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood.' And he said, 'You have dealt faithlessly. Roll a large stone to me today.'

³⁴And Saul said, 'Scatter among the people and say to them, Let each man bring me his ox and his sheep, and slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.' So all the people brought, each man his ox by his hand that night, and they slaughtered them there.

³⁵And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar he built to the LORD.

³⁶And Saul said, 'Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the light of morning, and let us not leave a man of them.' And they said, 'Do whatever seems good to you.' But the priest said, 'Let us draw near here to God.'

³⁷And Saul inquired of God, 'Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?' But he did not answer him on that day.

³⁸And Saul said, 'Come here, all you leaders of the people, and know and see wherein this sin has occurred today.'

³⁹For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.' But there was no one answering him from all the army.

⁴⁰And he said to all Israel, 'You shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.' And the people said to Saul, 'Do what seems good to you.'

⁴¹Then Saul said to the LORD, God of Israel, 'Give what is perfect.' And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people came out.

⁴²And Saul said, 'Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.' And Jonathan was taken.

⁴³And Saul said to Jonathan, 'Tell me what you have done.' So Jonathan told him and said, 'I indeed tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand — and here I must die!'

⁴⁴And Saul said, 'May God do so and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.'

⁴⁵But the people said to Saul, 'Shall Jonathan die, who did this great salvation in Israel? Far be it! As the LORD lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.' So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.

⁴⁶And Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.

⁴⁷And Saul took the kingship over Israel and fought against all his enemies on every side — against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he prevailed.

⁴⁸He did valiantly and struck Amalek and delivered Israel from the hand of those who plundered them.

⁴⁹And the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua; and the names of his two daughters were — the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger was Michal.

⁵⁰And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz; and the name of the commander of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul's uncle.

⁵¹And Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner was the father of Abner, the son of Abiel.

⁵²And the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul; and whenever Saul saw any mighty man or any son of valor, he would gather him to himself.