Read the Bible

¹ Now it fell on a day, that Yonatan the son of Sha'ul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Pelishtim' garrison, that is on yonder side. But he didn't tell his father. ² Sha'ul abode in the uttermost part of Gevah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people who were with him were about six hundred men; ³ and Achiyah, the son of Achituv, Ikhavod's brother, the son of Pinechas, the son of `Eli, the Kohen of the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an efod. The people didn't know that Yonatan was gone. ⁴ Between the passes, by which Yonatan sought to go over to the Pelishtim' garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side: and the name of the one was Botzetz, and the name of the other Senneh. ⁵ The one crag rose up on the north in front of Mikhmash, and the other on the south in front of Geva. ⁶ Yonatan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us; for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. ⁷ His armor bearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart: turn you, behold, I am with you according to your heart. ⁸ Then said Yonatan, Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will disclose ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say thus to us, Wait until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them. ¹⁰ But if they say thus, Come up to us; then we will go up; for the LORD has delivered them into our hand: and this shall be the sign to us. ¹¹ Both of them disclosed themselves to the garrison of the Pelishtim: and the Pelishtim said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. ¹² The men of the garrison answered Yonatan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. Yonatan said to his armor bearer, Come up after me; for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Yisra'el. ¹³ Yonatan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armor bearer after him: and they fell before Yonatan; and his armor bearer killed them after him. ¹⁴ That first slaughter, which Yonatan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land. ¹⁵ There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the eretz quaked: so there was an exceeding great trembling.

¹⁶ The watchmen of Sha'ul in Gevah of Binyamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went [here] and there. ¹⁷ Then said Sha'ul to the people who were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. When they had numbered, behold, Yonatan and his armor bearer were not there. ¹⁸ Sha'ul said to Achiyah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was [there] at that time with the children of Yisra'el. ¹⁹ It happened, while Sha'ul talked to the Kohen, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Pelishtim went on and increased: and Sha'ul said to the Kohen, Withdraw your hand. ²⁰ Sha'ul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion. ²¹ Now the Hebrews who were with the Pelishtim as before, and who went up with them into the camp, [from the country] round about, even they also [turned] to be with the Yisra'elites who were with Sha'ul and Yonatan. ²² Likewise all the men of Yisra'el who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Efrayim, when they heard that the Pelishtim fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. ²³ So the LORD saved Yisra'el that day: and the battle passed over by Beit-Aven.

²⁴ The men of Yisra'el were distressed that day; for Sha'ul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food until it be evening, and I be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. ²⁵ All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. ²⁶ When the people were come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped: but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath. ²⁷ But Yonatan didn't hear when his father charged the people with the oath: therefore he put forth the end of the rod who was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. ²⁸ Then answered one of the people, and said, Your father directly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day. The people were faint. ²⁹ Then said Yonatan, My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰ How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for now has there been no great slaughter among the Pelishtim. ³¹ They struck of the Pelishtim that day from Mikhmash to Ayalon. The people were very faint; ³² and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. ³³ Then they told Sha'ul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. He said, you have dealt treacherously: roll a great stone to me this day. ³⁴ Sha'ul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don't sin against the LORD in eating with the blood. All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there. ³⁵ Sha'ul built an altar to the LORD: the same was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

³⁶ Sha'ul said, Let us go down after the Pelishtim by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. They said, Do whatever seems good to you. Then said the Kohen, Let us draw near here to God. ³⁷ Sha'ul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Pelishtim? will you deliver them into the hand of Yisra'el? But he didn't answer him that day. ³⁸ Sha'ul said, Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people; and know and see in which this sin has been this day. ³⁹ For, as the LORD lives, who saves Yisra'el, though it be in Yonatan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. ⁴⁰ Then said he to all Yisra'el, Be you on one side, and I and Yonatan my son will be on the other side. The people said to Sha'ul, Do what seems good to you. ⁴¹ Therefore Sha'ul said to the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, Show the right. Yonatan and Sha'ul were taken [by lot]; but the people escaped. ⁴² Sha'ul said, Cast [lots] between me and Yonatan my son. Yonatan was taken. ⁴³ Then Sha'ul said to Yonatan, Tell me what you have done. Yonatan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and, behold, I must die. ⁴⁴ Sha'ul said, God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Yonatan. ⁴⁵ The people said to Sha'ul, Shall Yonatan die, who has worked this great salvation in Yisra'el? Far from it: as the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Yonatan, that he didn't die. ⁴⁶ Then Sha'ul went up from following the Pelishtim; and the Pelishtim went to their own place.

⁴⁷ Now when Sha'ul had taken the kingdom over Yisra'el, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Mo'av, and against the children of `Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Tzovah, and against the Pelishtim: and wherever he turned himself, he put [them] to the worse. <sup>48</sup> He did valiantly, and struck the `Amaleki, and delivered Yisra'el out of the hands of those who despoiled them. ⁴⁹ Now the sons of Sha'ul were Yonatan, and Yishvi, and Malki-Shua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merav, and the name of the younger Mikhal: ⁵⁰ and the name of Sha'ul's wife was Achino'am the daughter of Achima`atz. The name of the captain of his host was Aviner the son of Ner, Sha'ul's uncle. ⁵¹ Kish was the father of Sha'ul; and Ner the father of Aviner was the son of Aviel. ⁵² There was sore war against the Pelishtim all the days of Sha'ul: and when Sha'ul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him to him.