My Daily Reading

1Sa 14:1-52 TS2009
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 Giḇʽah under a pomegranate tree at Miḡron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men.
3 And Aḥiyah son of Aḥituḇ, Iḵaḇoḏ’s brother, son of Pineḥas, son of Ěli, the priest of יהוה in Shiloh, was wearing a shoulder garment. And the people did not know that Yonathan had gone.
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 Botsĕts, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The one edge was on the north opposite Miḵmash, and the other on the south opposite Giḇʽah.
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 Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.”
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’ĕl.”
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 smiting which Yonathan and his armour-bearer struck 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 Giḇʽah of Binyamin looked and saw the crowd melting away, and they went here and there.
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 Aḥiyah, “Bring the ark of Elohim here.” For the ark of Elohim was with the children of Yisra’ĕl on that day.
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 Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp, turned round, they too, to be with Yisra’ĕl, who were with Sha’ul and Yonathan.
22 And all the men of Yisra’ĕl who had hidden in the mountains of Ephrayim, heard that the Philistines fled, and they also pursued them in the battle.
23 Thus יהוה saved Yisra’ĕl that day, and the battle passed over to Bĕyth Awen.
24 And the men of Yisra’ĕl were distressed that day, for Sha’ul had placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until evening, and I have taken revenge on my enemies.” Therefore none of the people tasted food.
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?”