1 Samuel 14:1-39 ▼

1 Now it happened one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who carried his armor, |Come, let’s go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.| But he did not tell his father.

2 Now Saul stayed in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree by the threshing floor, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men.

3 Now Ahijah was wearing an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the LORD in Shiloh. And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.

4 Now on each side of the pass through which Jonathan intended to cross to the Philistine garrison there was a steep cliff on one side and a steep cliff on the other side. And the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

5 The one cliff was to north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, |Come, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can prevent the LORD from saving by many or by a few.|

7 His armor bearer said to him, |Do all that your heart inclines toward. Look, I am with you, my heart is as your heart.|

8 Then Jonathan said, |Look, we will pass over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them.

9 If they say thus to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stop where we are, and will not go up to them.

10 But if they say this, 'Come up to us.' then we will go up; for the LORD has delivered them into our hand. This shall be the sign to us.|

11 Both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, |Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they had hidden themselves.|

12 The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, |Come up to us, and we will show you something.| Jonathan said to his armor bearer, |Come up after me; for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.|

13 Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan; and his armor bearer killed them after him.

14 That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men, with arrows and with weapons from flints of the field.

15 And there was a terror in the camp, and in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders were terrified. And the earth quaked, and it became a terror of God.

16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw, and look, the multitude was scattering here and there.

17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, |Count now, and see who is missing from us.| When they had counted, look, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

18 And Saul said to Ahijah, |Bring near the ephod,| for he wore the ephod at that time before Israel.

19 And it happened, while Saul was speaking to the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said to the priest, |Withdraw your hand.|

20 Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and look, every man's sword was against his fellow: a very great confusion.

21 Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines previously when they went up with them to the camp, they too turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed closely after them in the battle.

23 So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over by Beth Aven. And all the people with Saul were about ten thousand men. And the battle extended itself into every city in the hill country of Ephraim.

24 And Saul committed a great blunder that day, for he had placed the people under an oath, saying, |Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies.| So none of the people tasted food.

25 Now all the people came upon a honeycomb, and there was honey on the ground.

26 And when the people came upon the honeycomb, look, its bees had left, but no man would raise his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

27 But Jonathan did not hear when his father commanded the people with the oath, so he put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.

28 Then one of the people answered, and said, |Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats food this day.'| The people were faint.

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

30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies when they found it, for the slaughter among the Philistines would have been greater.|

31 They struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. The people were very faint;

32 and the people pounced upon the spoil, and took sheep, and cattle, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.

33 Then they told Saul, saying, |Look, the people are sinning against the LORD, in that they eat meat with the blood.| He said, |You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me this day.|

34 And Saul said, |Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, ‘Each one of you bring to me his ox or his sheep, and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.'| So everyone of the people brought whatever he had at hand with him, and slaughtered it there.

35 Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

36 Saul said, |Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.| They said, |Do whatever seems good to you.| Then the priest said, |Let us draw near here to God.|

37 Saul asked counsel of God, |Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?| But he did not answer him that day.

38 And Saul said, |Come here, all you leaders of the people; and investigate and see how this sin has arisen today.

39 For, as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.| But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.