1 Samuel 14 - Easy To Read Version

¹ That day, Saul’s son Jonathan was talking with the young man who carried his weapons. Jonathan said, “Let’s go to the Philistine camp on the other side {of the valley}.” But Jonathan did not tell his father.

² Saul was sitting under a pomegranate [125] tree in Migron at the edge of the hill. [126] This was near the threshing floor [127] at that place. Saul had about 600 men with him.

³ One the men was named Ahijah. Ahijah was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ichabod was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eli. Eli had been the Lord’s priest at Shiloh. Now Ahijah was the priest—Ahijah now wore the ephod. [128]

⁴ Jonathan was planning to go through a pass to get to the Philistine camp. There was a large rock on each side of the pass. The large rock on one side was named Bozez. The large rock on the other side was named Seneh.

⁵ One large rock stood looking north toward Micmash. The other large rock stood looking south toward Geba.

⁶ Jonathan said to his young helper who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s go to the camp of those foreigners. [129] Maybe the Lord will use us to defeat these people! Nothing can stop the Lord—it doesn’t matter if we have many soldiers or just a few soldiers.”

⁷ The young man who carried Jonathan’s weapons said to him, “Do what you think is best. I am with you all the way.”

⁸ Jonathan said, “Let’s go! We’ll cross {the valley} and go to those Philistine guards. We’ll let them see us.

⁹ If they say to us, ‘Stay there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are. We won’t go up to them.

¹⁰ But if the Philistine men say, ‘Come up here,’ we will climb up to them. Why? Because that will be a sign from God. That will mean that the Lord will allow us to defeat them.”

¹¹ So Jonathan and his helper let the Philistines see them. The Philistine guards said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in!”

^12-14 The Philistines in the fort shouted to Jonathan and his helper, “Come up here. We’ll teach you a lesson!”

¹⁵ All of the Philistine soldiers became scared—the soldiers in the field, the soldiers in the camp, and the soldiers at the fort. Even the bravest soldiers were scared. The ground began to shake and that really scared the Philistine soldiers!

¹⁶ Saul’s guards at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin saw the Philistine soldiers running away in different ways.

¹⁷ Saul said to the army with him, “Count the men. I want to know who left camp.”

¹⁸ Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring God’s Holy Box! [130] ” (At that time God’s Holy Box was there with the Israelites.)

¹⁹ Saul was talking to Ahijah the priest. {Saul was waiting for advice from God.} But the noise and confusion in the Philistine camp was growing and growing. {Saul was becoming impatient.} Finally, Saul said to Ahijah the priest, “That’s enough! Put your hand down {and stop praying}!”

²⁰ Saul gathered his army together and went to the battle. The Philistine soldiers were really confused! They were even fighting each other with their swords!

²¹ There were Hebrews who served the Philistines in the past and who stayed in the Philistine camp. But now these Hebrews joined the Israelites with Saul and Jonathan.

²² All the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard the Philistine soldiers were running away. So these Israelites also joined in the battle and began chasing the Philistines.

²³ So the Lord saved the Israelites that day. The battle moved on past Beth Aven. The whole army was with Saul—he now had about 10,000 men. The battle spread to every city in the hill country of Ephraim. [131]

^24-26 But Saul made a big mistake that day. [132] The Israelites were tired and hungry. This was because Saul forced the people to make this promise: Saul said, “If any man eats food before evening comes and before I finish defeating my enemies, then that man will be punished!” So none of the Israelite soldiers ate any food.

²⁷ But Jonathan didn’t know about that promise. Jonathan didn’t hear his father force the people to make that promise. Jonathan had a stick in his hand. He dipped the end of the stick into the honeycomb and pulled out some honey. He ate the honey and began to feel much better.

²⁸ One of the soldiers told Jonathan, “Your father forced the soldiers to make a special promise. Your father said that any man who eats today will be punished! {So the men have not eaten anything.} That is why the men are weak.”

²⁹ Jonathan said, “My father has brought a lot of trouble to the land! See how much better I feel after just tasting a little of this honey!

³⁰ It would have been much better for the men to eat the food that they took from their enemies today. We could have killed many more Philistines!”

³¹ That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines. They fought them all the way from Micmash to Aijalon. So the people were very tired and hungry.

³² They had taken sheep, cows, and calves from the Philistines. Now the people of Israel were so hungry they killed the animals on the ground and ate them. And the blood was still in the animals!

³³ A person said to Saul, “Look! The men are sinning against the Lord. They’re eating meat that still has blood in it!”

³⁴ Then Saul said, “Go to the men and tell them each person must bring his bull and sheep to me. Then the men must kill their bulls and sheep here. Don’t sin against the Lord! Don’t eat meat that still has blood in it.”

³⁵ Then Saul built an altar for the Lord. Saul himself began building that altar for the Lord!

³⁶ Saul said, “Let’s go after the Philistines tonight. We will take everything from them! We will kill them all!”

³⁷ So Saul asked God, “Should I go chase the Philistines? Will you let us defeat the Philistines?” But God did not answer Saul that day.

³⁸ So Saul said, “Bring all the leaders to me! Let’s find who did the sin today.

³⁹ I swear (promise) by the Lord who saves Israel, even if my own son Jonathan did the sin, he must die.” None of the people said a word.

⁴⁰ Then Saul said to all the Israelites, “You stand on this side. I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other side.”

⁴¹ Then Saul prayed, “Lord, God of Israel, why haven’t you answered your servant today? If I or my son Jonathan have sinned, Lord God of Israel, give Urim. If your people Israel have sinned, give Thummim. [133]

⁴² Saul said, “Throw them again to show who is guilty—me or my son Jonathan.” Jonathan was chosen.

⁴³ Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.”

⁴⁴ Saul said, “I made a promise and asked God to punish me if I didn’t keep my promise! Jonathan must die!”

⁴⁵ But the soldiers said to Saul, “Jonathan led Israel to a great victory today. Must Jonathan die? Never! We swear (promise) by the living God that {no one will hurt Jonathan}—not one hair of Jonathan’s head will fall to the ground! God helped Jonathan fight against the Philistines today!” So the people saved Jonathan. He was not put to death.

⁴⁶ Saul did not chase the Philistines. The Philistines went back to their place.

⁴⁷ Saul took full control of Israel. Saul fought all the enemies that lived around Israel. Saul fought Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the king of Zobah, and the Philistines. Saul defeated Israel’s enemies wherever he went.

⁴⁸ Saul was very brave. Saul saved Israel from all the enemies who tried to take things from the people of Israel. Saul defeated even the Amalekites!

⁴⁹ Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki Shua. Saul’s older daughter was named Merab. Saul’s younger daughter was named Michal.

⁵⁰ Saul’s wife was named Ahinoam. Ahinoam was the daughter of Ahimaaz.

⁵¹ Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.

⁵² Saul was brave all his life. He fought hard against the Philistines. Any time Saul saw a man who was strong or brave, he took that man and put him into the group of soldiers that stayed near the king and protected him.