1 Samuel 13:8-14:23

New International Version - UK

⁸ He waited for seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹ So he said, ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.’ And Saul offered up the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

¹¹ ‘What have you done?’ asked Samuel.

Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, ¹² I thought, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favour.” So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.’

¹³ ‘You have done a foolish thing,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.’

¹⁵ Then Samuel left Gilgal^[a] and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.

Israel without weapons

¹⁶ Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah^[b] of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. ¹⁷ Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned towards Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, ¹⁸ another towards Beth Horon, and the third towards the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.

¹⁹ Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, ‘Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!’ ²⁰ So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their ploughshares, mattocks, axes and sickles^[c] sharpened. ²¹ The price was two-thirds of a shekel^[d] for sharpening ploughshares and mattocks, and a third of a shekel^[e] for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

²² So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Jonathan attacks the Philistines

²³ Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash. 14 ¹ One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armour-bearer, ‘Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.’ But he did not tell his father.

² Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, ³ among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

⁴ On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. ⁵ One cliff stood to the north towards Michmash, the other to the south towards Geba.

⁶ Jonathan said to his young armour-bearer, ‘Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.’

⁷ ‘Do all that you have in mind,’ his armour-bearer said. ‘Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.’

⁸ Jonathan said, ‘Come on, then; we will cross over towards them and let them see us. ⁹ If they say to us, “Wait there until we come to you,” we will stay where we are and not go up to them. ¹⁰ But if they say, “Come up to us,” we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.’

¹¹ So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. ‘Look!’ said the Philistines. ‘The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.’ ¹² The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armour-bearer, ‘Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.’

So Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, ‘Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.’

¹³ Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armour-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armour-bearer followed and killed behind him. ¹⁴ In that first attack Jonathan and his armour-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.^[f]

Israel routs the Philistines

¹⁵ Then panic struck the whole army – those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties – and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.^[g]

¹⁶ Saul’s lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. ¹⁷ Then Saul said to the men who were with him, ‘Muster the forces and see who has left us.’ When they did, it was Jonathan and his armour-bearer who were not there.

¹⁸ Saul said to Ahijah, ‘Bring the ark of God.’ (At that time it was with the Israelites.)^{[h] 19} While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, ‘Withdraw your hand.’

²⁰ Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. ²¹ Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²² When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. ²³ So on that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.