| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Then Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered up the burnt offering. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11“What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will descend upon me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD.” |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.” |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash. |
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