deliver; for they arevain.
22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased
the LORD to make you his people.
23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you:
but I will teach you the good and the right way:
24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things
he hath done for you.
25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
1 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
2 Saul chose him three thousand menof Israel; whereoftwo thousand were with Saul in
Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and
the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that wasin Geba, and the Philistines
heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
4 And all Israel heard say thatSaul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and thatIsrael
also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after
Saul to Gilgal.
5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand
chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which ison the sea shore in
multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then
the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in
pits.
7 And some ofthe Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was
yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel
came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
9 And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the
burnt offering.
10 And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering,
behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.
11 And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were
scattered from me, and thatthou camest not within the days appointed, and thatthe Philistines
gathered themselves together at Michmash;
12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made
supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of
the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy
kingdom upon Israel for ever.
14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart,
and the LORD hath commanded him to becaptain over his people, because thou hast not kept that
which the LORD commanded thee.
15 And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered
the people that werepresent with him, about six hundred men.
16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that werepresent with them, abode in Gibeah
of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
17 And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company
turned unto the way that leadeth toOphrah, unto the land of Shual:
18 And another company turned the way toBethhoron: and another company turned tothe way of

the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
19 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said,
Lest the Hebrews make themswords or spears:
20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his
coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.
21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the
axes, and to sharpen the goads.
22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the
hand of any of the people that werewith Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his
son was there found.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
1 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that
bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that ison the other side.
But he told not his father.
2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which isin Migron:
and the people that werewith him wereabout six hundred men;
3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S
priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison,
there wasa sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the
one wasBozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The forefront of the one wassituate northward over against Michmash, and the other
southward over against Gibeah.
6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the
garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there isno
restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
7 And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that isin thine heart: turn thee; behold, I amwith
thee according to thy heart.
8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto thesemen, and we will discover ourselves
unto them.
9 If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and
will not go up unto them.
10 But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them
into our hand: and this shall bea sign unto us.
11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the
Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid
themselves.
12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to
us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me:
for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him:
and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him.
14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men,
within as it were an half acre of land, whicha yoke of oxen might plow.
15 And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and
the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted
away, and they went on beating down one another.
17 Then said Saul unto the people that werewith him, Number now, and see who is gone from

us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer werenot there.
18 And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time
with the children of Israel.
19 And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that wasin the host of
the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
20 And Saul and all the people that werewith him assembled themselves, and they came to the
battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there wasa very great
discomfiture.
21 Moreover the Hebrews thatwere with the Philistines before that time, which went up with
them into the camp from the countryround about, even they also turnedto be with the
Israelites that werewith Saul and Jonathan.
22 Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, whenthey heard
that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
23 So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.
24 And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying,
Cursed bethe man that eateth anyfood until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So
none of the people tasted anyfood.
25 And all they ofthe land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
26 And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his
hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.
27 But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put
forth the end of the rod that wasin his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to
his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
28 Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an
oath, saying, Cursed bethe man that eateth anyfood this day. And the people were faint.
29 Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have
been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
30 How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies
which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?
31 And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very
faint.
32 And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew themon
the ground: and the people did eat themwith the blood.
33 Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with
the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.
34 And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither
every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay themhere, and eat; and sin not against the
LORD in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night,
and slew themthere.
35 And Saul built an altar unto the LORD: the same was the first altar that he built unto the
LORD.
36 And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and spoil them until the
morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good
unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw near hither unto God.
37 And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them
into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.
38 And Saul said, Draw ye near hither, all the chief of the people: and know and see wherein
this sin hath been this day.
39 For, asthe LORD liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely