¹Then it came to pass on a certain day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to his servant-lad carrying his arms, “Come, let us cross to the Philistines' garrison which is beyond this place.” And he did not tell his father. ²And Saul remained at the edge of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred in number. ³And Ahiah the son of Ahitub, the brother of I-Chabod the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, wearing the ephod, remained there, and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. ⁴Now among the passes which Jonathan undertook to cross to the Philistines' garrison was one with a precipice on each side of the pass, and the name of one side was Bozez, and the name of the other side was Senneh. ⁵And one precipice was a sheer edge to the north, facing Michmas, and the other was to the south, facing Geba. ⁶And Jonathan said to the servant-lad who was carrying his arms, “Come, and let us cross to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act for us, for the Lord is not under any constraint to save by means of many or few.” ⁷And his arms-bearer said to him, “Do everything that is in your heart. Be resolute – here I am with you according to your intention.” ⁸And Jonathan said, “Look, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them. ⁹If they say this to us: ‘Wait until we have come to you’, then we will stay on the spot, and we will not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say this: ‘Come up to us’, then we will go up, for then the Lord will have delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.” ¹¹And the two of them revealed themselves to the Philistines' garrison, and the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of their holes where they hid themselves.” ¹²And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his arms-bearer, and they said, “Come up to us, and we will make a thing known to you.” And Jonathan said to his arms-bearer, “Go up behind me, for the Lord has delivered them into Israel's hand.” ¹³So Jonathan went up on his hands and feet with his arms-bearer behind him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his arms-bearer killed them after him. ¹⁴And the first attack which Jonathan and his arms-bearer made was on about twenty men in the narrow space of about half a furrow which a yoke of oxen would plough in a field. ¹⁵And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the fighting force also trembled, and the land shook, and it was a tremendous trembling. ¹⁶And Saul's watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked and saw a crowd melt away this way and that way. ¹⁷Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Count now, and see who has gone away from us.” So they counted, and it turned out that Jonathan and his arms-bearer were absent. ¹⁸And Saul said to Ahiah, “Bring the ark of God here”, for at that time the ark of God was with the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And it came to pass, while Saul was speaking to the priest, that the noise in the Philistines' camp became louder and louder, and Saul said to the priest, “Stay your hand.” ²⁰And Saul and all the people with him assembled and went to the battle, and it ensued that each man's sword was against his neighbour, and there was very great confusion. ²¹And moreover the Hebrews who had been in favour with the Philistines for some time, who had gone up with them in the camp, in the surroundings, re-joined Israel, which was with Saul and Jonathan. ²²And when every man of Israel who had been hiding in Mount Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too joined in pursuing them in the battle. ²³And the Lord saved Israel on that day, and the battle moved across to Beth-Aven. ²⁴But the men of Israel were distressed on that day, and Saul adjured the people and said, “Cursed be the man who eats bread before this evening, so that I may be avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted any bread. ²⁵And the whole country went to a wood, and there was honey throughout the terrain. ²⁶And when the people came to the wood, they saw that there was a supply of honey, but no-one brought his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father adjuring the people, and he poked with the end of the stick which was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and he put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes saw a vision. ²⁸And a man from the people reacted and said, “Your father solemnly adjured the people and said, ‘Cursed be the man who eats bread today.’ ” And the people became faint. ²⁹And Jonathan said, “My father has caused the land sorrow. Look now, for my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much better it would have been if only the people had eaten today from the spoil of their enemies which they found! For would there not now have been a greater defeat of the Philistines?” ³¹And they struck the Philistines down on that day from Michmas to Aijalon, but the people were very faint. ³²And the people acquired spoil, and they took sheep and oxen and calves, and they slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood. ³³And they reported it to Saul, and they said, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone up to me this day.” ³⁴And Saul said, “Disperse among the people and say to them, ‘Let each man bring to me his ox, or let each man bring his sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’ ” So all the people brought their ox in their hand that night, and they slaughtered them there. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to the Lord. He began with this one in building altars to the Lord. ³⁶And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines at night and plunder them until the light of the morning, and let us not leave a man among them remaining.” And they said, “Do whatever is right in your sight.” And the priest said, “Let us draw near here to God.” ³⁷And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him on that day. ³⁸Then Saul said, “Come over here, all you princes of the people, and know and see what this sin today consisted of. ³⁹For as the Lord, the saviour of Israel, lives, even if it is Jonathan my son who committed it, he will surely die.” But there was no-one among all the people who answered him. ⁴⁰And he said to the whole of Israel, “You be on one side, and Jonathan and I will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what is right in your sight.” ⁴¹Then Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, “Give the verdict of the Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were indicted, whereas the people were exonerated. ⁴²Then Saul said, “Draw the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was indicted. ⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him and said, “I did indeed taste a little honey with the end of my staff which is in my hand, and in consequence I will die.” ⁴⁴And Saul said, “May God do this and add more otherwise, for you will surely die, Jonathan.” ⁴⁵And the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die, who achieved this great salvation in Israel? Far be it – as the Lord lives – no hair from his head shall fall to the ground, for he acted with God on this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, and he did not die.” ⁴⁶Then Saul withdrew after the encounter with the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. ⁴⁷And Saul took the kingship over Israel, and he fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. And everywhere he turned, he caused harm. ⁴⁸And he acted valiantly, and he struck Amalek down, and he delivered Israel from the hand of those who plundered it. ⁴⁹And Saul's sons were Jonathan and Jishvi and Malchi-Shua, and as for the names of his two daughters, the name of the elder was Merab and the name of the younger was Michal. ⁵⁰And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz, and the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. ⁵¹And Kish was Saul's father, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. ⁵²And the war against the Philistines was fierce, for all Saul's days, and when Saul saw any heroic man or any valiant man, he recruited him.