1 Samuel 14 - The Scriptures 1998

¹ And it came to be one day that Yonathan son of Sha’ul said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come, and let us go over to the outpost of the Philistines which is on the other side.” But he did not inform his father.

² And Sha’ul remained at the outskirts of Giḇ

³ And Aḥ

⁴ And between the passes, by which Yonathan sought to go over to the outpost of the Philistines, there was an edge of a rock on one side and an edge of a rock on the other side. And the name of one was Botsĕ

⁵ The one edge was on the north opposite Miḵ

⁶ And Yehonathan said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come, and let us go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised. If so be, יהוה  does work for us. For there is no hindrance for יהוה  to save by many or by few.”

⁷ And his armour-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart, incline yourself. See, I am with you, according to your heart.”

⁸ And Yehonathan said, “See, we are passing over to the men – and show ourselves to them.

⁹ “If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we shall stand still in our place and not go up to them.

¹⁰ “But if they say this, ‘Come up to us,’ then we shall go up. For יהוה  has given them into our hand, and this is the sign to us.”

¹¹ And both of them disclosed themselves to the outpost of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, “See, the Heḇ

¹² And the men of the outpost called to Yonathan and his armour-bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and let us teach you a lesson.” Then Yonathan said to his armour-bearer, “Come up after me, for יהוה  has given them into the hand of Yisra’ĕ

¹³ And Yonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armour-bearer after him. And they fell before Yonathan, and his armour-bearer was putting them to death behind him.

¹⁴ And that first slaughter which Yonathan and his armour-bearer made was about twenty men, in about half an acre of land.

¹⁵ And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The outpost and the raiders also trembled, and the ground shook. And it became a trembling of Elohim.

¹⁶ And the watchmen of Sha’ul in Giḇ

¹⁷ And Sha’ul said to the people who were with him, “Please inspect and see who has gone from us.” So they inspected and saw that Yonathan and his armour-bearer were missing.

¹⁸ And Sha’ul said to Aḥ

¹⁹ And it came to be, while Sha’ul talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines went on, and became great, so Sha’ul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”

²⁰ And Sha’ul was called, and all the people who were with him , and they went to the battle. And see, every man’s sword was against his neighbour – a very great confusion.

²¹ And the Heḇ

²² And all the men of Yisra’ĕ

²³ Thus יהוה  saved Yisra’ĕ

²⁴ And the men of Yisra’ĕ

²⁵ And all they of the land came into the woods, and there was honey on the ground.

²⁶ And the people came into the woods and saw the honey, dripping. But no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷ But Yonathan had not heard that his father had taken an oath of the people, and he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth. And his eyes lit up.

²⁸ Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly took an oath of the people, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today.’ ” And the people were weary.

²⁹ And Yonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Now see how my eyes lit up when I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰ “How much better if the people had well eaten today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For then, would not the slaughter among the Philistines have been greater?”

³¹ And they smote the Philistines that day from Miḵ

³² and the people pounced on the spoil, and took sheep, and cattle, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate with the blood.

³³ And they told Sha’ul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against יהוה  by eating with the blood!” And he said, “You have acted treacherously. Roll a large stone to me today.”

³⁴ And Sha’ul said, “Scatter among the people, and say to them, ‘Each one bring his ox near to me, and each one his sheep, and you shall slaughter them here, and eat. And do not sin against יהוה  by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there.

³⁵ And Sha’ul built an altar to יהוה. It was the first altar he built to יהוה.

³⁶ And Sha’ul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light, and not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to Elohim here.”

³⁷ And Sha’ul asked of Elohim, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Do You give them into the hand of Yisra’ĕ

³⁸ And Sha’ul said, “Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today.

³⁹ “For as יהוה  lives, who saves Yisra’ĕ

⁴⁰ And he said to all Yisra’ĕ

⁴¹ Then Sha’ul said to יהוה  Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

⁴² And Sha’ul said, “Cast lots between my son Yonathan and me.” And Yonathan was taken.

⁴³ Sha’ul then said to Yonathan, “Explain to me what you have done.” And Yonathan explained to him, and said, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. See, let me die!”

⁴⁴ And Sha’ul answered, “Elohim do so and more also, for you shall certainly die, Yonathan.”

⁴⁵ But the people said to Sha’ul, “Should Yonathan die, who has wrought this great deliverance in Yisra’ĕ

⁴⁶ And Sha’ul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

⁴⁷ And Sha’ul took the reign over Yisra’ĕ

⁴⁸ And he gathered an army and smote the Amalĕ

⁴⁹ And the sons of Sha’ul were Yonathan and Yishwi and Malkishua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the first-born Mĕ

⁵⁰ And the name of Sha’ul’s wife was Aḥ

⁵¹ And Qish was the father of Sha’ul, and Nĕ

⁵² And there was fierce fighting against the Philistines all the days of Sha’ul. And when Sha’ul saw any mighty man or any brave man, he took him for himself.