1 Samuel 13
1 Saul was one year old when he began to reign, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel for himself. Two thousand stayed with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand stayed with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people away, each to his own tent.
3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul sounded the trumpet throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”
4 All Israel heard it said, “Saul has attacked the Philistine garrison, and Israel has become hateful to the Philistines.” So the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.
5 The Philistines gathered to fight against Israel: thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and a people as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They came up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because the people were hard pressed, they hid in caves, thickets, among rocks, in pits, and in cisterns.
7 Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people following him were trembling.
8 He waited seven days, until the time Samuel had set, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to scatter from him.
9 Then Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
10 Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
11 Samuel asked, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you had not come at the appointed time, and that the Philistines were gathering at Michmash.
12 So I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 But now your kingdom will not endure. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him leader over his people, because you did not keep what the LORD commanded you.”
15 Samuel got up and went from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul counted the people who were with him: about six hundred men.
16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people with them stayed at Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash.
17 A raiding party came out from the Philistine camp in three groups. One group took the road to Ophrah, into the land of Shual.
18 Another group took the road to Beth-horon, and the third took the road to the border overlooking the Valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness.
19 No blacksmith could be found anywhere in the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not make swords or spears.”
20 All Israel went down to the Philistines to have each person sharpen his plowshare, hoe, axe, and mattock.
21 The charge for sharpening was a pim for plowshares and hoes, for the three-pronged forks and axes, and for repairing the goad.
22 So on the day of battle, no sword or spear could be found in the hands of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.
23 The Philistine outpost went out to the pass at Michmash.
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