Kings I 13
1 And Saul chooses for himself three thousand men of the men of Israel: and there were with Saul two thousand who were in Machmas, and in mount Baethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gabaa of Benjamin: and he sent the rest of the people every man to his tent.
Saul was no longer a young man when he became the king. He ruled Israel for 42 years.
[Several years after he became king], he chose three thousand men from the Israeli army to go with him [to fight the Philistines]. Then he sent the other soldiers back home. Of the men he chose, 2,000 stayed with Saul at Micmash and in the hilly area near Bethel, and 1,000 stayed with [Saul’s son] Jonathan at Gibeah, in the area where the descendants of Benjamin lived.
3 And Jonathan struck Nasib the Philistine that lived in the hill; and the Philistines hear of it, and Saul sounds the trumpet through all the land, saying, The servants have despised [us].
Jonathan [and the men who were with him] attacked the Philistine soldiers who were camped at Geba. The [other] Philistines heard about that. [So Saul realized that the army of Philistia would probably come to fight the Israelis again]. So Saul [sent messengers to] blow trumpets throughout Israel [to gather the people together and] proclaim to them, “All you Hebrews need to hear [that now the Philistines will start a war with us]!”
4 And all Israel heard say, Saul has struck Nasib the Philistine; now Israel had been put to shame before the Philistines; and the children of Israel went up after Saul in Galgala.
The messengers told the rest of the army to gather together with Saul at Gilgal. And all the people in Israel heard the news. People were saying, “Saul’s army has attacked the Philistine camp, with the result that now the Philistines hate us Israelis very much.”
5 And the Philistines gather together to war with Israel; and then come up against Israel thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand by the seashore for multitude: and they come up, and encamp in Machmas, opposite Baethoron southward.
The Philistines gathered together and were given equipment to fight the Israelis. The Philistines had 3,000 chariots, and 6,000 chariot-drivers. Their soldiers [seemed to be as many] as grains of sand on the seashore [HYP]. They went up and set up their tents at Micmash, to the east of Beth-Aven ([which means ‘house of wickedness’, and really referred to Bethel town]).
6 And the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait so that they could not draw near, and the people hid themselves in caves, and sheepfolds, and rocks, and ditches, and pits.
The Philistines attacked the Israelis very strongly, and the Israeli soldiers realized that they were in a very bad situation. So many of the Israeli soldiers hid in caves and holes in the ground, or among the rocks, or in pits, or in wells.
7 And they that went over went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Galaad: and Saul was yet in Galgala, and all the people followed after him in amazement.
Some of them crossed the Jordan River at a place where it was very shallow. Then they went to the area where the descendants of Gad lived and to [the] Gilead [region]. But Saul stayed at Gilgal. All the soldiers who were with him were shaking [because they were so afraid].
8 And he continued seven days for the appointed testimony, as Samuel told him, and Samuel came not to Galgala, and his people were dispersed from him.
Saul waited seven days, which was the number of days that Samuel had told him to wait for him. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal [during that time], so many of the men in Saul’s army began to leave him and run away.
9 And Saul said, Bring hither [victims], that I may offer whole burnt offerings and peace-offerings: and he offered the whole burnt offering.
So Saul said to the soldiers, “Bring to me an animal to be completely burned [on the altar] and one for the offering to enable us to maintain fellowship [with God].” [So the men did that].
10 And it came to pass when he had finished offering the whole burnt offering, that Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him, [and] to bless him.
And just as he was finished burning those offerings, Samuel arrived. Saul went to greet him.
11 And Samuel said, What have you done? and Saul said, Because I saw how the people were scattered from me, and you was not present as you purposed according to the set time of the days, and the Philistines were gathered to Machmas.
Samuel [saw what Saul had done, and he] said to Saul, “Why have you done this?” Saul replied, “I saw that my men were leaving me and running away, and that you did not come here during the time that you said that you would come, and that the Philistine army was gathering together at Micmash.
12 Then I said, Now will the Philistines come down to me to Galgala, and I have not sought the face of the Lord: so I forced myself and offered the whole burnt offering.
“So I thought, ‘The Philistine army is going to attack us here at Gilgal, and I have not yet asked Yahweh to bless/help us.’ So I felt it was necessary to offer the burnt offerings [to seek God’s blessings].”
13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly; for you have not kept my command, which the Lord commanded you, as now the Lord would have confirmed your kingdom over Israel for ever.
Samuel replied, “What you did was very foolish! You have not obeyed what Yahweh, your God, commanded [about sacrifices]. If you had obeyed him, God would have allowed you and your descendants to rule [Israel] for a long time.
14 But now your kingdom shall not stand to you, and the Lord shall seek for himself a man after his own heart; and the Lord shall appoint him to be a ruler over his people, because you have not kept all that the Lord commanded you.
But now [because of what you have done, you will die, and after you die, ] none of your descendants will rule. Yahweh is seeking for a man [to be king] who will be just the kind of person that he wants him to be, so that he can appoint him to be the leader of his people. Yahweh will do this because you have not obeyed what he commanded.”
15 And Samuel arose, and departed from Galgala, and the remnant of the people went after Saul to meet [him] after the men of war, when they had come out of Galgala to Gabaa of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were found with him, about six hundred men.
Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah. Saul stayed at Gilgal with his soldiers. There were only about 600 of them left [who had not run away].
16 And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people that were found with them, halted in Gabaa, of Benjamin; and they wept: and the Philistines had encamped in Machmas.
Saul and his son Jonathan and the soldiers who were with them went to Geba [city] in the area of the tribe of Benjamin [and set up their tents there]. The Philistine army set up their tents at Micmash.
17 And men came forth to destroy out of the land of the Philistines in three companies; one company turning by the way of Gophera toward the land of Sogal,
Three groups of Philistia men soon left the place where their army was staying, and went and (raided the Israeli towns/attacked the Israelis and took their possessions). One group went [north] toward Ophrah [city] in [the] Shual [region].
18 and another company turning the way of Baethoron, and another company turning by the way of Gabae that turns aside to Gai of Sabim.
One group went [west] to Beth-Horon [city]. The third group went toward the [Israeli] border, above Zeboim Valley, near the desert.
19 And there was not found a smith in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make themselves sword or spear.
At that time, there were no men in Israel who (were blacksmiths/could make things from iron). [The people of Philistia would not permit the Israelis to do that, because they were afraid that] they would make iron swords and spears for the Hebrews to fight with.
20 And all Israel went down to the Land of the Philistines to forge every one his reaping-hook and his tool, and every one his axe and his sickle.
So [whenever the Israelis needed] to sharpen the blades of their plows, or picks, or axes, or sickles, they were forced to take those things to a Philistia man who could sharpen those things.
21 And it was near the time of vintage: and their tools were [valued at] three shekels for a plowshare, and there was the same rate for the axe and the sickle.
They needed to pay (one fourth of an ounce/8 grams) of silver for sharpening a plow, and (an eighth of an ounce/4 grams) of silver to sharpen an axe, or a sickle, or (an ox goad/a pointed rod to jab an ox to make it walk).
22 And it came to pass in the days of the war of Machmas, that there was not a sword or spear found in the hand of all the people, that were with Saul and Jonathan; but with Saul and Jonathan his son was there found.
So [because the Israelis could not make weapons from iron], on the day that the Israelis fought [against the men of Philistia], Saul and Jonathan were the only Israeli men who had swords. None of the others had a sword; [they had only bows and arrows].
23 And there went out some from the camp of the Philistines to the place beyond Machmas.
Before the battle started, some Philistia men went to (the pass/a narrow place between two cliffs) outside Micmash to guard it.
