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].
One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to the young armor-bearer, “Come on, let's cross over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” But he didn't let his father know his plans.
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 was staying near Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. He had about six hundred men with him,
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, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, priest of the Lord in Shiloh. No one realized Jonathan had left.
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.
Cliffs stood on both sides of the pass that Jonathan planned to cross to reach the Philistine garrison, one called Bozez and the other Seneh.
5 One cliff faced north toward Micmash, and the cliff on the other side faced south toward Geba [town].
The cliff to the north was on the Michmash side, the one to the south on the Geba side.
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 armor-bearer, “Come on, let's cross over to the garrison of these heathen men. Maybe the Lord will help us out. It's not a problem for the Lord to win, whether 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.”
“You choose what you want to do,” the armor-bearer replied. “I'm with you whatever you decide!”
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.
“Let's go then!” Jonathan said. “We'll cross over in their direction so they can see us.
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 tell us, ‘Wait there until we come down to you,’ we will wait where we are and we won't 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, ‘Come on up to us,’ we'll climb up, for that will be the sign that the Lord has handed them over 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!”
So both of them let themselves be seen by Philistine garrison. “Hey, look!” shouted the Philistines. “The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in.”
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 from the garrison called down to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up here, and we'll teach you a thing or two!” “Follow me up,” Jonathan told his armor-bearer, “for the Lord has handed them over to 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.
So Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. Jonathan attacked and killed them, and his armor-bearer followed doing the same.
14 In that first battle the two of them killed about 20 Philistia soldiers in an area that was about half an acre.
In this first attack, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed about twenty men over an area of half an acre.
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.
Then Philistines went into a panic, in the camp, in the field, and throughout their army. Even those in the outposts and the groups of raiders became terrified. The earth shook—this was a panic from God.
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.
Saul's lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the Philistine army melting away, scattering in all directions.
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.
Saul told the soldiers with him, “Do a roll-call and find out who isn't here with us.” When they did the roll-call, they discovered that Jonathan and his armor-bearer weren't 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 the Ark of God here.” (At the time the Ark of God traveled with the Israelites.)
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.”]
But as Saul was speaking to the priest, the commotion coming from the Philistine camp grew louder and louder. So Saul told the priest, “Forget it!”
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.
Then Saul and all his army assembled and went into battle. They discovered the Philistines were in total disarray, attacking each other with swords.
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.
The Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines, and who were with them in their camp, switched sides and joined 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.
When all the Israelites who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were running away, they also joined in chasing after the Philistines to attack them.
23 So Yahweh rescued the Israelis on that day. The Israeli soldiers continued to pursue their enemies beyond Beth-Aven [town].
On that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle extended past 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.
It was difficult for the men of Israel that day because Saul had ordered the army to take an oath, saying, “Cursed is anyone who eats anything before evening, before I have avenged myself on my enemies.” So no one in the army had eaten anything.
25 The Israeli army went into the forest, and they found honeycombs on the ground, but they did not eat any honey.
When they all entered the forest they found honeycomb on the ground.
26 They were afraid to eat any, because they had solemnly promised that they would not eat any food.
While they were in the forest they saw the honey running out, but no one picked it up to eat it because they were all afraid of the oath they had taken.
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 hadn't heard that his father had ordered the army to take this oath. So he stuck the end of his stick into the honeycomb, picked up a piece to eat, and he felt much better.
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].”
But one of the soldiers told him, “Your father made the army take a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is anyone who eats anything today!’ That is why the men are exhausted.”
29 Jonathan exclaimed, “My father has caused trouble for all of us! See how refreshed/strong I am after eating a little honey!
“My father has caused a whole lot of trouble for everyone,” Jonathan replied. “See how well I am because I've eaten 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!”
It would have been so much better if only the army had eaten plenty today from the plunder taken from their enemies! How many more Philistines would have been killed?”
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.
After defeating the Philistines that day, killing them from Michmash to Aijalon, the Israelites were totally exhausted.
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.
They grabbed the plunder, taking sheep, cattle, and calves, and slaughtered them right there on the ground. But they 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!”
Saul was told, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood.” “Law-breakers!” said Saul. “Roll a large stone over here right now!”
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.
Then he said, “Go around the soldiers and tell them, ‘Every man must bring me his cattle or his sheep and slaughter them here, and then eat. Don't sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood.’” Everyone in the army brought what he had and slaughtered it there that night.
35 That was the first [time that he built an] altar for Yahweh.
So Saul built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar he had 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 and chase down the Philistines during night and plunder them till dawn, leaving no survivors.” “Do what you think best,” they replied. But the priest said, “Let's ask God first.”
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 God, “Shall I go down and chase down the Philistines? Will you hand them over to Israel?” But that day God didn't answer him.
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.
So Saul gave the order, “All you army commanders, come here so we can investigate what sin has happened 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].
I swear on the life of the Lord who saves Israel, that even if it's my son Jonathan, he will have to die!” But no one of the whole army said anything.
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.”
Saul told them all, “You stand over to one side, and I and my son Jonathan will stand on the opposite side.” “Do what you think best,” the army replied.
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.
Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let the Thummin show.” Jonathan and Saul were identified, while everyone else was cleared.
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.
Then Saul said, “Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan.” 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]?”
“Tell me what you have done,” Saul asked Jonathan. “I just tasted a little honey with the end of my stick,” Jonathan told him. “Here I am, and I have to 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, “May God punish me very severely if you do not 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.
But the people told Saul, “Does Jonathan have to die, the one who achieved this great victory in Israel? Absolutely not! We swear on the life of the Lord, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground, for it was with God's help that he achieved this today.” The people saved Jonathan, and he didn't die.
46 Then Saul ordered his soldiers to stop pursuing the Philistia army, so the Philistia soldiers returned to their homes.
Saul stopped chasing down the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own country.
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.
After Saul had made his hold over Israel secure, he fought against all his enemies all around: Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Whatever direction he went he defeated them all.
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 fought bravely, conquering the Amalekites, saving Israel from those who plundered them.
49 Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishbosheth, and Malchishua. He also had two daughters, Merab and her younger sister Michal.
Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. The names of his two daughters were Merab, (the firstborn), and Michal, (the younger one).
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 his wife was Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of Saul's army commander was Abner, son of Ner, and Ner was Saul's uncle.
51 Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were both sons of Abiel.
Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were sons 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.
Throughout Saul's lifetime there was constant war with the Philistines. Saul recruited into his army every strong warrior and every brave fighter that he met.
