Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, March 30 [Press play below]

13.1 Saul was ... years old when he became king, and for two years he reigned over Israel.
13.2 Saul chose 3,000 men out of Israel; 2,000 of these were with Saul at Michmash and in the mountainous region of Bethel and 1,000 were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people away, each one to his tent.
13.3 Then Jonathan struck down the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. And Saul had the horn blown throughout all the land, saying: “Let the Hebrews hear!”
13.4 All Israel heard the news: “Saul has struck down a garrison of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench among the Philistines.” So the people were summoned to follow Saul at Gilgal.
13.5 The Philistines also gathered together to fight against Israel, with 30,000 war chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; and they went up and camped in Michmash to the east of Beth-aven.
13.6 And the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because they were hard-pressed; so the people hid in the caves, the hollows, the crags, the cellars, and the cisterns.
13.7 Some of the Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people following him were trembling.
13.8 He continued waiting for seven days until the designated time that Samuel had set, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
13.9 Finally Saul said: “Bring to me the burnt sacrifice and the communion sacrifices.” And he offered up the burnt sacrifice.
13.10 But as soon as he had finished offering up the burnt sacrifice, Samuel arrived. So Saul went out to meet him and bless him.
13.11 Then Samuel said: “What have you done?” Saul replied: “I saw that the people were deserting me, and you did not come within the designated time, and the Philistines were gathering together at Michmash.
13.12 So I said to myself, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of Jehovah.’ So I felt obligated to offer up the burnt sacrifice.”
13.13 At this Samuel said to Saul: “You have acted foolishly. You have not obeyed the commandment that Jehovah your God gave you. If you had, Jehovah would have made your kingdom firm over Israel forever.
13.14 But now your kingdom will not last. Jehovah will find a man agreeable to his heart, and Jehovah will commission him as a leader over his people, because you did not obey what Jehovah commanded you.”
13.15 Then Samuel rose and went his way up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin, and Saul took the count of the people; those still with him were about 600 men.
13.16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people still with them were dwelling in Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines had encamped at Michmash.
13.17 And the raiding parties would go out from the camp of the Philistines in three bands. One band would turn toward the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual;
13.18 another band would turn toward the road of Beth-horon; and the third band would turn toward the road leading to the boundary that overlooks the valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness.
13.19 Now there was not a metalworker to be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said: “So that the Hebrews may not make a sword or a spear.”
13.20 And all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to get their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles sharpened.
13.21 The price for sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, for the mattocks, for the three-toothed instruments, for the axes, and for fixing fast the oxgoad.
13.22 And on the day of battle, not a sword or a spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.
13.23 Now a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the ravine pass of Michmash.

14.1 One day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the attendant carrying his weapons: “Come and let us cross over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
14.2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree in Migron, and there were about 600 men with him.
14.3 (And Ahijah the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, was carrying the ephod.) And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
14.4 Now between the passages that Jonathan was trying to cross over to reach the outpost of the Philistines, there was a toothlike crag on one side and a toothlike crag on the other side; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other was Seneh.
14.5 The one crag was a pillar on the north facing Michmash, and the other was on the south facing Geba.
14.6 So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: “Come and let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps Jehovah will act in our behalf, for nothing can hinder Jehovah from saving by many or by few.”
14.7 At this his armor-bearer said to him: “Do whatever your heart impels you to do. Turn wherever you wish, and I will follow you wherever your heart impels you.”
14.8 Then Jonathan said: “We will cross over to those men and reveal our presence to them.
14.9 If they say to us, ‘Stand still until we come to you!’ we will stand where we are and not go up to them.
14.10 But if they say, ‘Come up against us!’ we will go up, because Jehovah will give them into our hand. This will be our sign.”
14.11 Then both of them revealed their presence to the outpost of the Philistines. The Philistines said: “Look! The Hebrews are coming out from the holes where they have been hiding.”
14.12 So the men of the outpost said to Jonathan and his armor-bearer: “Come up to us, and we will teach you a lesson!” At once Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: “Follow me, for Jehovah will give them into the hand of Israel.”
14.13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer was behind him; and the Philistines began to fall before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer was putting them to death behind him.
14.14 In the first attack that Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, they struck down about 20 men within about half the plowing line in an acre of field.
14.15 Then terror spread in the field camp and among all the people of the outpost, and even the raiding parties were terrified. The earth began quaking, and a terror from God ensued.
14.16 Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin saw that the turmoil was spreading in every direction.
14.17 Saul said to the people with him: “Take a count, please, and see who has left us.” When they took the count, they saw that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.
14.18 Saul now said to Ahijah: “Bring the Ark of the true God near!” (For the Ark of the true God was with the Israelites at that time.)
14.19 And while Saul was speaking to the priest, the turmoil in the camp of the Philistines was growing greater and greater. Then Saul said to the priest: “Stop what you are doing.”
14.20 So Saul and all the people with him assembled and went into the battle, where they found that the Philistines had turned their swords against one another, and the confusion was very great.
14.21 Also, the Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and who had come up with them into the camp were going over to Israel under Saul and Jonathan.
14.22 All the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountainous region of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, and they too joined in pursuing them in the battle.
14.23 So Jehovah saved Israel on that day, and the battle extended as far as Beth-aven.
14.24 But the men of Israel were hard-pressed on that day, for Saul had put the people under this oath: “Cursed is the man who eats any food before the evening and until I have taken vengeance on my enemies!” So none of the people ate any food.
14.25 And all the people came into the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
14.26 When the people came into the forest, they saw the honey dripping, but no one would put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.
14.27 But Jonathan had not heard his father put the people under an oath, so he stretched out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. When he drew his hand back to his mouth, his eyes brightened.
14.28 At this one of the people said: “Your father put the people under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today!’ That is why the people are so tired.”
14.29 However, Jonathan said: “My father has brought great trouble on the land. Look at how my eyes brightened because I tasted this little bit of honey.
14.30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today from the spoil of their enemies that they found! For then the slaughter of the Philistines would have been even greater.”
14.31 On that day they kept striking down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people became very tired.
14.32 So the people began rushing greedily at the spoil, and they took sheep and cattle and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, and they ate the meat along with the blood.
14.33 So it was reported to Saul: “Look! The people are sinning against Jehovah by eating meat with the blood.” At this he said: “You have acted faithlessly. Roll a large stone to me immediately.”
14.34 Saul then said: “Spread out among the people and say to them, ‘Each of you must bring his bull and his sheep and slaughter them here and then eat them. Do not sin against Jehovah by eating meat with the blood.’” So each of them brought his bull with him that night and slaughtered it there.
14.35 And Saul built an altar to Jehovah. This was the first altar he built to Jehovah.
14.36 Saul later said: “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light. We will not leave a single survivor.” To this they said: “Do whatever seems good in your eyes.” Then the priest said: “Let us approach the true God here.”
14.37 And Saul inquired of God: “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But God did not answer him on that day.
14.38 So Saul said: “Come here, all you chiefs of the people, and find out what sin has been committed today.
14.39 For as surely as Jehovah is alive, who rescued Israel, even if it turns out to be Jonathan my son, he must die.” But none of the people would answer him.
14.40 Then he said to all Israel: “You will be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side.” At this the people said to Saul: “Do whatever seems good in your eyes.”
14.41 Saul then said to Jehovah: “O God of Israel, answer with the Thummim!” Then Jonathan and Saul were selected, and the people went free.
14.42 Saul now said: “Cast lots to decide between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was selected.
14.43 Then Saul said to Jonathan: “Tell me, what have you done?” So Jonathan told him: “I merely tasted a little honey on the tip of the staff in my hand. Here I am! I am ready to die!”
14.44 At this Saul said: “Thus may God do and may he add to it if you do not die, Jonathan.”
14.45 But the people said to Saul: “Should Jonathan die—the one who brought this great victory to Israel? It is unthinkable! As surely as Jehovah is alive, not even a single hair of his head should fall to the ground, for it was with God that he acted this day.” With that the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
14.46 So Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own territory.
14.47 Saul secured the kingship over Israel and fought against all his enemies on every side, against the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he went he defeated them.
14.48 And he fought bravely and conquered the Amalekites and rescued Israel from the hand of their plunderers.
14.49 The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. And he had two daughters; the name of the older one was Merab, and the name of the younger one, Michal.
14.50 The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the chief of his army was Abner the son of Ner, the uncle of Saul.
14.51 Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
14.52 There was fierce warfare with the Philistines all the days of Saul. When Saul saw any strong or courageous man, he would recruit him into his service.