1 Samuel 14

₁Then Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his weapon-carrier: ‘Come, let us go over to the Philistine camp on the other side and attack the guards.’

Jonathan did not tell his father what he wanted to do. ₂Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron near the town of Gibeah. There were about 600 men with him and they also did not know that Jonathan had gone. ₃Ahijah was wearing a shoulder-cloth. He was the son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod. Ichabod was the son of Phinehas and Phinehas was the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh.

₄Jonathan had to go over the mountain-pass to the group of Philistine soldiers. There was a sharp rock on each side of the mountain pass. The name of one rock was Bozez and the other rock was Seneh. ₅One rock was on the northern side of Mikmash and the other rock was south of the mountain-pass to the side of Geba. ₆Jonathan said to his weapon-carrier: ‘Let's go to the camp of those uncircumcised men. Maybe the Lord will help us because nothing can stop the Lord if He wants to save someone. He can do it using a lot of people or only a few people.’ ₇Jonathan's weapon-carrier said to him: ‘Do what you think is right and I will do what you do.’

₈Then Jonathan said: ‘We must go up to them and walk so that they can see us. ₉If they say to us: “Wait there, and we will come to you,” then we must stay here, and we must not go up to them. ₁₀But if they say to us: “Come up to us,” then we must go to them, because that will show us that the Lord will help us defeat them.’

₁₁Jonathan and his weapon-carrier walked so that the Philistines could see them coming and the Philistines said: ‘Look, there are some of the Hebrews who have come out of the holes where they were hiding.’ ₁₂The Philistine men told Jonathan and his weapon-carrier: ‘Come up to us, and we will show you who is the strongest.’ Then Jonathan said to his weapon-carrier: ‘Come with me because the Lord will help us defeat them, that is sure.’

₁₃Jonathan climbed up using his hands and feet and his weapon-carrier climbed after him. Jonathan attacked the Philistines with his sword and they fell to the ground. His weapon-carrier followed him and killed them. ₁₄Jonathan and his weapon-carrier killed about 20 Philistines on the first day. The place where they killed the Philistines was about as big as half an acre. ₁₅All the Philistines in the camp and in the field and in the other small camps and those who had taken things from the Israelites were afraid. They trembled and the ground was shaking. God made them all afraid.

₁₆Saul was with his men in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin and they saw that the Philistines were running away, some to one side and some to the other side. ₁₇Saul said to his men: ‘Count how many men are here and find out who is not here.’

They counted the men and saw that Jonathan and his weapon-carrier were not there. ₁₈Saul said to the priest Ahijah: ‘Bring the covenant box of God.’ The covenant box was with the men of Israel on that day. ₁₉While Saul was talking to the priest, they heard the Philistines shouting more and more loudly and they saw the Philistines getting more and more confused. Then Saul said to the priest: ‘Stand back. There is no time now.’

₂₀Saul and all the men who were with him came together and they went to start the war. They saw that the Philistines were very confused, and they were killing each other with their swords. ₂₁There were Hebrews with the Philistines who had come with them to go to war, but now they came to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ₂₂When they told the Israelites who had been hiding in the mountains of Ephraim that the Philistines had fled, they also came and followed the Philistines and chased them. ₂₃The Lord saved the Israelites on that day. They made war and chased the Philistines as far as the town of Beth-Aven.

₂₄When the men of Israel came on that day, they were very unhappy because Saul said: ‘I curse any man who eats before tonight. He will die because I first want to punish my enemies.’ So not one of the men ate that day. ₂₅They came to a forest and there was honey on the ground. ₂₆When the men went into the forest, they saw a lot of honey dripping on the ground but not one of the men ate any of it because they were afraid of what Saul said. ₂₇But Jonathan had not heard when his father said that to the men. He had a stick with him and he put the end of it into the honey and he ate the honey. He felt strong and his eyes became bright immediately. ₂₈One of the men said to him: ‘Your father said the men may not eat today and the man who eats will die. Now the men are weak because they are hungry.’

₂₉Jonathan said: ‘My father has made trouble for the land. Look at me. I ate some of the honey and I feel strong. My eyes are bright. ₃₀If the men had eaten some of the food which they took from the enemy today, they would have killed even more Philistines, but now they have not killed a lot of them.’

₃₁The Israelites made war_against the Philistines on that day from the town of Mikmash to Aijalon and they were very tired. ₃₂The men ran to catch the sheep, goats and cattle from the Philistines. They killed the animals there on the ground and they ate the meat with the blood. ₃₃Someone told Saul: ‘The men are sinning_against God because they eat meat that has blood in it.’ Then Saul said: ‘You have sinned against the Lord. Bring a big stone here now. ₃₄Tell all the men to bring their cattle and sheep and kill them here and eat them. But they must not sin_against the Lord. They must not eat meat with the blood in it.’ Then all the men brought their animals and killed them there that night. ₃₅Saul built an altar for the Lord. This was the first time that he had built an altar for the Lord.

₃₆Saul said: ‘Let's go and fight against the Philistines tonight and take everything they have. We must keep on until the morning. Not one of them must stay alive.’ The men said: ‘You must do what you think is right.’

But the priest said: ‘Let us first ask God what we must do.’ ₃₇Saul then asked God: ‘Must we go and attack the Philistines? Will You help us defeat them?’ But God did not answer Saul on that day. ₃₈Saul then said to all the officers of his army: ‘You must come here. We must find out who has sinned today. ₃₉The man who has sinned will die, this is sure, as sure as the Lord lives who saves Israel. That man will die, even if it is my son Jonathan.’

Not one of the men answered him. ₄₀Saul said to all the Israelites: ‘You must stand here and I and Jonathan, my son, will stand over there.’ The men said to Saul: ‘You must do what you think is right.’

₄₁Then Saul asked the Lord: ‘God of Israel, tell us the truth. Tell us who is guilty. Was it I or Jonathan, or was it your people, the Israelites?’ The Lord showed them that it was Jonathan or Saul, not the men. ₄₂Then Saul said to the priest: ‘Ask the Lord who is guilty, I, or my son Jonathan.’ The Lord showed them it was Jonathan. ₄₃So Saul said to Jonathan: ‘Tell me what you did.’ Jonathan said to him: ‘I ate only a little bit of honey that was on the end of my stick. Here I am. I will die.’ ₄₄And Saul said: ‘Jonathan, as sure as the Lord lives, you must die.’

₄₅But the men said to Saul: ‘Must Jonathan die? No, never. It was he who helped the Israelites win. As sure as God lives, not one hair of Jonathan's head will fall on the ground, because God has helped him today.’

So the men saved Jonathan and he did not die. ₄₆Saul stopped chasing the Philistines and the Philistines went back to their land.

₄₇After Saul became king_of_Israel, he made war_against all his enemies around the land_of_Israel: against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of the land of Zobah and the Philistines. He defeated all enemies. ₄₈He was brave and they also defeated the Amalekites. That is how he saved the Israelites from all their enemies.

₄₉Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua and his 2 daughters were Merab and Michal. ₅₀Saul's wife was Ahinoam. She was the daughter of Ahimaaz. The chief of Saul's army was Abner, and Abner's father was Ner, who was Saul's uncle. ₅₁Saul's father, Kish, and Ner, were sons of Abiel. ₅₂The war_against the Philistines did not stop. It went on for as long as Saul was king. Saul took every brave and strong man with him.