Part 169 (1/2)

And he offered the holocaust.

13:10. And when he had made an end of offering the holocaust, behold Samuel came: and Saul went forth to meet him and salute him.

13:11. And Samuel said to him: What hast thou done? Saul answered: Because I saw that the people slipt from me, and thou wast not come according to the days appointed, and the Philistines were gathered together in Machmas,

13:12. I said: Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Galgal, and I have not appeased the face of the Lord. Forced by necessity, I offered the holocaust.

13:13. And Samuel said to Saul: Thou hast done foolishly, and hast not kept the commandments of the Lord thy G.o.d, which he commanded thee. And if thou hadst not done thus, the Lord would now have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever:

13:14. But thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man according to his own heart: and him hath the Lord commanded to be prince over his people, because thou hast not observed that which the Lord commanded.

13:15. And Samuel arose and went up from Galgal to Gabaa of Benjamin.

And the rest of the people went up after Saul, to meet the people who fought against them, going from Galgal to Gabaa, in the hill of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people, that were found with him, about six hundred men.

13:16. And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, were in Gabaa of Benjamin: But the Philistines encamped in Machmas.

13:17. And there went out of the camp of the Philistines three companies to plunder. One company went towards the way of Ephra to the land of Sual;

13:18. And another went by the way of Bethoron, and the third turned to the way of the border, above the valley of Seboim towards the desert.

13:19. Now there was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had taken this precaution, lest the Hebrews should make them swords or spears.

13:20. So all Israel went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his ploughshare, and his spade, and his axe, and his rake.

13:21. So that their shares, and their spades, and their forks, and their axes, were blunt, even to the goad, which was to be mended.

13:22. And when the day of battle was come, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, except Saul and Jonathan his son.

13:23. And the army of the Philistines went out in order to advance further in Machmas.

1 Kings Chapter 14

Jonathan attacketh the Philistines. A miraculous victory. Saul's unadvised oath, by which Jonathan is put in danger of his life, but is delivered by the people.

14:1. Now it came to pa.s.s one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, and let us go over to the garrison of the Philistines, which is on the other side of yonder place.

But he told not this to his father.

14:2. And Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gabaa, under the pomegranate tree, which was in Magron: and the people with him were about six hundred men.

14:3. And Achias, the son of Achitob, brother of Ichabod the son of Phinees, the son of Heli, the priest of the Lord in Silo, wore the ephod. And the people knew not whither Jonathan was gone.

14:4. Now there were between the ascents, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of the Philistines, rocks standing up on both sides, and steep cliffs like teeth on the one side, and on the other, the name of the one was Boses, and the name of the other was Sene:

14:5. One rock stood out toward the north, over against Machmas, and the other to the south, over against Gabaa.

14:6. And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncirc.u.mcised, it may be the Lord will do for us: because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many, or by few.

14:7. And his armourbearer said to him: Do all that pleaseth thy mind: go whither thou wilt, and I will be with thee wheresoever thou hast a mind.

14:8. And Jonathan said: Behold we will go over to these men. And when we shall be seen by them,