¹Saul was a son of thirty years in his reign, and he reigned forty and two years over Israel.

²And Saul chose for himself three thousand from Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Micmash and in the hill country of Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent away, each man to his tents.

³And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines which was in Geba, and the Philistines heard; and Saul gave a blast on the horn through all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear."

⁴And all Israel heard it said, "Saul has struck the garrison of the Philistines, and Israel has also become a stench to the Philistines." And the people were summoned to Gilgal after Saul.

⁵And the Philistines gathered to fight against Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a people like the sand which is on the edge of the sea, in multitude; and they came up and encamped in Micmash, east of Beth-aven.

⁶And the men of Israel saw that it was a tight place for them, for the people were hard pressed; and the people hid themselves in caverns, in brambles, in crags, in strongholds, and in cisterns.

⁷And Hebrews passed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; and Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people came shuddering after him.

⁸And he waited seven days, until the appointed time which Samuel had set; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people scattered from him.

⁹And Saul said, "Bring near to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings"; and he offered up the burnt offering.

¹⁰And it happened, as he finished bringing up the burnt offering, that look, Samuel was coming; and Saul went out to meet him, to bless him.

¹¹And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and you had not come at the appointed time of the days, and the Philistines were gathering at Micmash,

¹²And I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the face of Yahweh'; so I forced myself, and I brought up the burnt offering."

¹³And Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

¹⁴And now your kingdom will not stand; Yahweh has sought for himself a man matching his own heart, and Yahweh has commanded him to be ruler over his people; for you did not keep what Yahweh commanded you."

¹⁵And Samuel rose and went up from Gilgal, and went on his way; and the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the people of war. And they came from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin; and Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men.

¹⁶And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people who were found with them were dwelling in Geba of Benjamin; and the Philistines camped at Micmash.

¹⁷And the spoilers went out from the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned along the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual.

¹⁸And one company turned along the road to Beth-horon, and one company turned along the road of the border that looks down over the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹And no artisan could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, "Lest the Hebrews make a sword or a spear."

²⁰And all Israel went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his pick-axe, his plowshare, his axe, and his pick-axe.

²¹And the bluntness was a portion for the pick-axes and for the plowshares, and for the three-pronged fork, and for the axes, and for setting the goad.

²²And it happened on the day of battle that no sword or spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; but it was found for Saul and for his son Jonathan.

²³And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Micmash.