¹And it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the boy who carried his weapons, "Come, let us cross over to the garrison of the Philistines that is on the far side." But he did not tell his father.

²And Saul was sitting at the end of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is in Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men.

³And Ahijah the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh in Shiloh, was carrying an ephod; and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

⁴And between the passes through which Jonathan sought to cross over to the garrison of the Philistines, there was a tooth of crag on the side over here and a tooth of crag on the side over there; and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other was Seneh.

⁵The one tooth, a crag, stood on the north in front of Micmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

⁶And Jonathan said to the boy who carried his weapons, "Come, let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will act for us; for there is no hindrance for Yahweh in saving by many or by few."

⁷And the one who carried his weapons said to him, "Do all that is in your heart; turn where you will; look, I am with you, as your heart is."

⁸And Jonathan said, "Look, we are about to cross over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them.

⁹If they say to us thus, 'Be still until we reach you,' then we will stand in our place and we will not go up to them.

¹⁰But if they say thus, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for Yahweh has given them into our hand; and this will be the sign for us."

¹¹And the two of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, "Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they hid themselves."

¹²And the men of the outpost answered Jonathan and the one who carried his weapons, and said, "Come up to us, and we will let you know a word." And Jonathan said to the one who carried his weapons, "Come up after me, for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel."

¹³And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, with the one who carried his weapons behind him; and they fell before Jonathan, and the one who carried his weapons was killing behind him.

¹⁴And the first blow that Jonathan and the one who carried his weapons struck was about twenty men, within about half a furrow, an acre of field.

¹⁵And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and the spoilers shuddered, they too; and the land quaked, and it became a trembling from God.

¹⁶And the watchmen of Saul at Gibeah of Benjamin saw, and look, the crowd was melting away and going here and there.

¹⁷And Saul said to the people who were with him, "Please muster and see who has gone from us." And they mustered, and look, Jonathan and the one who carried his weapons were not there.

¹⁸Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ark of God,” for the ark of God was on that day with the children of Israel.

¹⁹It was while Saul spoke to the priest that the hordes which were in the camp of the Philistines went and were great; and Saul said to the priest, "Gather your hand."

²⁰Saul and all the people who were with him assembled and came as far as the battle, and look, each man’s sword was against his neighbor—a very great panic.

²¹Now the Hebrews had been with the Philistines as before, who had gone up with them into the camp all around—they too came to be with Israel, who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²²And every man of Israel who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, and they too pursued closely after them in the battle.

²³Yahweh saved Israel on that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.

²⁴And the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day; and Saul put the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats food until the evening, when I have avenged myself on my enemies.” But none of the people tasted any food.

²⁵All the land came into the forest, and there was honey on the face of the field.

²⁶The people came into the forest, and look, a dripping of honey; but there was no one who reached his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

²⁷But Jonathan had not heard when his father put the people under oath; so he stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, dipped it in the honeycomb of the honey, and brought back his hand to his mouth, and his eyes grew bright.

²⁸A man from the people answered and said, “Your father solemnly put the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’” And the people grew faint.

²⁹Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See, please, how my eyes have grown bright, for I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰Indeed, if only the people had really eaten today from the plunder of their enemies that they found! For now the blow among the Philistines has not been great.”

³¹They struck the Philistines on that day from Micmash to Aijalon, and the people grew very faint.

³²The people swooped down on the plunder, and took flock and cattle and the young of the cattle, and slaughtered them on the land; and the people ate with the blood.

³³They told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against Yahweh by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have acted treacherously. Roll a great stone to me today.”

³⁴Saul said, “Scatter among the people, and say to them, ‘Bring near to me, each one his ox and each one his sheep, and slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against Yahweh by eating with the blood.’” And all the people that night brought near, each one his ox in his hand, and slaughtered it there.

³⁵Saul built an altar to Yahweh; it was the altar he began to build to Yahweh.

³⁶Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and let us plunder them until the light of the morning, and let us not leave a man among them.” They said, “Do all that is good in your eyes.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near here to God.”

³⁷Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him on that day.

³⁸Saul said, “Draw near here, all you corners of the people, and know and see by what means this sin has come about today.

³⁹For as Yahweh lives, who delivers Israel, even if it is in Jonathan my son, surely he shall die.” But no one answered him from all the people.

⁴⁰He said to all Israel, "You will be to the one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be to the one side." And the people said to Saul, "Make the good in your eyes."

⁴¹Saul said to Yahweh the God of Israel, "Why have you not answered your slave this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, Yahweh the God of Israel, give Urim; and if it is this guilt in your people Israel, give blameless." And Jonathan and Saul were captured, and the people went forth.

⁴²Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken by lot.

⁴³Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, and said, “I indeed tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.”

⁴⁴Saul said, “May God do so, and more also; for surely you shall die, Jonathan.”

⁴⁵The people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has done this great deliverance in Israel? Far be it! As Yahweh lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the land, for he has acted with God this day.” And the people ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.

⁴⁶Saul went up from following the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

⁴⁷Saul seized the kingship over Israel, and fought all around against all his enemies—against Moab, the children of Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he condemned.

⁴⁸He acted with strength, and struck Amalek, and snatched Israel from the hand of those who plundered it.

⁴⁹The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-shua; and the name of his two daughters: the name of the eldest was Merab, and the name of the younger was Michal.

⁵⁰The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz; and the name of the chief of his army was Abner son of Ner, uncle of Saul.

⁵¹Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

⁵²The war against the Philistines was mighty all the days of Saul; and Saul saw every mighty man and every able man, and gathered him to himself.