²⁶ When the army came to the forest, look! There was honey flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the army was afraid of the solemn oath.

²⁷ However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb.^[a] Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed.^{[b] 28} Then a man from the army informed him and said, “Your father made the army swear a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today,’” so the army is exhausted.