1 Samuel 14

1 One day, Jonathan said to the young man who carried his weapons, “Come with me; we will go over to where the Philistia soldiers have put up their tents.” [So they went], but Jonathan did not tell his father [what they were going to do].

Now it happened on a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come! Let’s go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he didn’t tell his father.

2 On that day, Saul and the 600 soldiers who were with him were sitting around a pomegranate tree at a place where the people threshed grain, near Gibeah.

Saul stayed in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron; and the people who were with him were about six hundred men,

3 Ahijah the priest was also there. He was wearing the sacred vest. Ahijah was the son of Ahitub, who was a brother of Ichabod. Ichabod and Ahitub were the sons of Phinehas, who was the son of Eli, who had been Yahweh’s priest at Shiloh. No one knew that Jonathan had left [the Israeli camp].

including Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. The people didn’t know that Jonathan was gone.

4 Jonathan planned that he and the young man would go through a narrow (pass/place between two cliffs) to get to where the Philistia army was. The cliff on one side of the pass was named Bozez, and the other cliff was named Seneh.

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

5 One cliff faced north toward Micmash, and the cliff on the other side faced south toward Geba [town].

The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his weapons, “Come with me. We will go to where those (pagans/people who do not believe in Yahweh) [MTY] have set up their tents. Perhaps Yahweh will help us. It does not matter whether we are only two men or many people; nothing can hinder Yahweh from enabling us to defeat them.”

Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come! Let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for there is no restraint on the LORD to save by many or by few.”

7 The young man who was carrying Jonathan’s weapons said, “Do what you think is the best thing for us to do. I will help you.”

His armour bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go, and behold, I am with you according to your heart.”

8 Then Jonathan said, “Okay, come with me. We will cross the valley to where the Philistia army is, and allow them to see us.

Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them.

9 If they then say to us, ‘You two stay there until we come down to you,’ we will stay there and not go up to them.

If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we come to you!’ then we will stand still in our place and will not go up to them.

10 But if they say to us, ‘Come up here [and fight against] us,’ that will show us that Yahweh will enable us to defeat them. Then we will go up and fight them.”

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 When the two of them crossed the valley, the Philistia soldiers saw them coming. They said, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes in which they have been hiding!”

Both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, “Behold, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they had hidden themselves!”

12 Then the Philistia soldiers who were closest to Jonathan and the young man who carried his weapons said, “Come up here, and we will teach you something [about how to fight] [IDM]!” Jonathan said to the young man who was with him, “Come behind me and climb up, because Yahweh is going to help us to defeat them!”

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

13 So Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and his feet [because it was very steep]. The young man climbed up following him. As Jonathan climbed, he struck and killed many Philistia soldiers, and the young man who was with him killed many more as he followed behind Jonathan.

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

14 In that first battle the two of them killed about 20 Philistia soldiers in an area that was about half an acre.

That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armour bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land.

15 Then all the other Philistia soldiers, the ones in the camp and the ones who had been attacking the Israeli towns, ones who were out in the field much closer, panicked. Then God caused the ground to shake, and they all became terrified/very afraid.

There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and amongst all the people; the garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling.

16 Saul’s (lookouts/men who were watching to see if enemies were coming) were in Gibeah [town] in the land of the tribe of Benjamin. They saw that the soldiers of the Philistia army were running away in all directions.

The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered.

17 Saul [realized that some of his soldiers must have attacked the Philistia army. So he] said to the soldiers who were with him, “Check to see if any of our men are not here.” So they checked, and they found out that Jonathan and the man who carried his weapons were gone.

Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Count now, and see who is missing from us.” When they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armour bearer were not there.

18 So Saul said to Ahijah [the Supreme Priest], “Bring the sacred vest here [and find out what we should do].” On that day Ahijah was wearing the sacred vest, going in front of the Israelis.

Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring God’s ark here.” For God’s ark was with the children of Israel at that time.

19 But while Saul was talking to the priest, [he saw that] the Philistia soldiers were becoming more panicked/confused. So Saul said to Ahijah, “Take your hand down [from the sacred vest. Do not waste any more time using the marked stones in the vest to find out what Yahweh wants us to do.”]

While Saul talked to the priest, the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased; and Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!”

20 Then Saul gathered his men and they went toward the battle. They found that the Philistia soldiers were so confused that they were striking each other with their swords.

Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle; and behold, they were all striking each other with their swords in very great confusion.

21 Before that, some of the Hebrew men had deserted their army and gone to join with the Philistia army. But now those men [revolted and] joined with Saul and Jonathan and the other Israeli soldiers.

Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before and who went up with them into the camp from all around, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

22 Some of the Israeli soldiers had previously run away and hidden in the mountains where the tribe of Ephraim lived. But when they heard that the Philistia soldiers were running away, they [came down and] joined the other Israeli soldiers and pursued the Philistia soldiers.

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 hard after them in the battle.

23 So Yahweh rescued the Israelis on that day. The Israeli soldiers continued to pursue their enemies beyond Beth-Aven [town].

So the LORD saved Israel that day; and the battle passed over by Beth Aven.

24 Before Saul’s soldiers went to the battle, Saul declared to them solemnly, “I do not want any of you to eat any food before this evening, before we have defeated all our enemies. If anyone eats anything, [Yahweh] will curse/punish him.” So none of the Israeli soldiers ate any food, and they became faint/weak because they were very hungry.

The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, 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 The Israeli army went into the forest, and they found honeycombs on the ground, but they did not eat any honey.

All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.

26 They were afraid to eat any, because they had solemnly promised that they would not eat any food.

When the people had come to the forest, behold, honey was dripping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

27 But Jonathan did not hear what his father commanded [because he had left the camp very early in the morning]. So [when he saw] a honeycomb, he dipped the end of his walking stick into it and ate some honey. After he ate the honey, he felt stronger.

But Jonathan didn’t hear when his father commanded the people with the oath. Therefore he put out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened.

28 But one of the Israeli soldiers saw him and said to him, “Your father solemnly declared to us that [Yahweh] would curse/punish anyone who ate any food today. So now we are [very tired and] weak from being hungry [because we obeyed him].”

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 today.’” So the people were faint.

29 Jonathan exclaimed, “My father has caused trouble for all of us! See how refreshed/strong I am after eating a little honey!

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

30 If he had permitted all of us to eat from the food we took from our enemies while we were pursuing them, we would have been able to kill many more of their soldiers!”

How much more, if perhaps the people had eaten freely today of the plunder of their enemies which they found? For now there has been no great slaughter amongst the Philistines.”

31 The Israelis pursued and killed Philistia soldiers all that day, from Micmash [town west] to Aijalon. But they continued to become weaker from being hungry.

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

32 They had taken [many] sheep and cattle that the Philistia soldiers had abandoned. Now, because they were extremely hungry, they butchered some of those animals and ate the meat without draining the blood from the animals.

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

33 One of the soldiers told Saul, “Look! The men are sinning against Yahweh by eating meat that still has blood in it!” Saul replied [to the men who were near him], “They have disobeyed Yahweh! Roll a large stone over here!”

Then they told Saul, saying, “Behold, 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 today!”

34 After they did that, he said to those men, “Go and tell all the soldiers that each of them must bring an ox or a sheep to me, and kill it here on this stone, [and drain the blood] before he eats any of the meat. They should not sin against Yahweh by eating meat [from some animal] without draining its blood.” So that night all the soldiers brought animals and slaughtered them there. Then Saul built an altar to [worship] Yahweh.

Saul said, “Disperse yourselves amongst the people, and tell them, ‘Every man bring me here his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don’t sin against the LORD in eating meat with the blood.’” All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there.

35 That was the first [time that he built an] altar for Yahweh.

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

36 Then Saul said [to the Israeli soldiers], “Let’s pursue the Philistia soldiers tonight. We can attack them all night. We will not allow any of them to escape alive.” The Israeli soldiers answered, “We will do whatever you think is the best thing for us to do.” But the priest said, “We should ask Yahweh [what he thinks we should do].”

Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines by night, and take plunder amongst them until the morning light. Let’s not leave a man of them.” They said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” Then the priest said, “Let’s draw near here to God.”

37 So Saul asked God, “Should we pursue the Philistine soldiers? Will you enable us to defeat them?” But God did not answer Saul that day.

Saul asked counsel of God: “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he didn’t answer him that day.

38 Then Saul summoned all the leaders of his army. He said to them, “[I am sure that God has not answered me because] someone has sinned. We must find out what sin someone has committed.

Saul said, “Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see in whom this sin has been today.

39 Yahweh has rescued us [from the Philistia army]. Just as certain as Yahweh lives, whoever has sinned must be executed. Even if it is my son Jonathan who has sinned, he must be executed.” [His men knew who was guilty], but none of them said anything [to Saul].

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 amongst all the people who answered him.

40 Then Saul said to all the Israeli soldiers, “You stand on one side. My son Jonathan and I will stand on the other side.” His men replied, “Do whatever you think is best.”

Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.” The people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”

41 Then Saul prayed to Yahweh, the Israelis’ God, “Tell me who is guilty and who is not guilty.” Then the priest (cast lots/threw the stones that were marked), and they indicated that it was [either] Jonathan or Saul who was the guilty one, and that the other men were not guilty.

Therefore Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Show the right.” Jonathan and Saul were chosen, but the people escaped.

42 Then Saul said to the priest, “Throw the stones again to indicate which of us two is guilty.” So he did, and the stones indicated that Jonathan was the guilty one.

Saul said, “Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son.” Jonathan was selected.

43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done [that was wrong].” Jonathan replied, “I ate a little bit of honey. It was only a little bit that was on the end of my stick. Do I [deserve to be] executed [because of doing that]?”

Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done!” Jonathan told him, and said, “I certainly did taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and behold, I must die.”

44 Saul replied, “Yes, you must be executed! I hope/wish that God will strike me and kill me if you are not executed for having done that!”

Saul said, “God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

45 But the Israeli soldiers said to Saul, “Jonathan has won a great victory for all us Israelis. Should he be executed for eating some honey [RHQ]? Certainly not! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, we will not allow you to injure him in any manner [IDM], [because] today God helped Jonathan [to kill many soldiers of the Philistia army]!” So [by saying that] the Israeli soldiers rescued Jonathan, and he was not executed.

The people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God today!” So the people rescued Jonathan, so he didn’t die.

46 Then Saul ordered his soldiers to stop pursuing the Philistia army, so the Philistia soldiers returned to their homes.

Then Saul went up from following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.

47 After Saul became the ruler/king of the Israeli people, his army fought against their enemies in many areas. They fought against armies of the Moab people-group, the Ammon people-group, the Edom people-group, the kings of Zobah [city/area], and the Philistia people-group. Wherever the Israeli army fought, they defeated their enemies.

Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side: against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned himself, he defeated them.

48 Saul’s army fought bravely and defeated the [very tall] descendants of Amalek. His army rescued the Israelis from those who had (plundered/forcefully taken things from) them.

He did valiantly and struck the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.

49 Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishbosheth, and Malchishua. He also had two daughters, Merab and her younger sister Michal.

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal.

50 Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of Saul’s army was Abner, who was the son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the captain of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.

51 Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were both sons of Abiel.

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

52 All the time that Saul was alive, his army fought against the Philistia army. And whenever Saul saw a young man who was (brave/not afraid to fight) and strong, he forced him to join his army.

There was severe war against the Philistines all the days of Saul; and when Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he took him into his service.