1 Samuel 14:5-23

New Catholic Bible

⁵ One of them faced the north toward Michmash, and the other faced the south toward Gibeah. ⁶ Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come on, let us cross over to that outpost of uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will be with us, for nothing can keep the Lord from saving, whether it be by many or by few.” ⁷ His armor-bearer said to him, “Do what you have in mind, my heart is with you.”

⁸ Jonathan said, “Let us cross over to those men and show ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say to us, ‘Wait where you are until we come over to you,’ then we will stay where we are and not go over to them. ¹⁰ But if they say, ‘Come here to us,’ then we will go, because the Lord has delivered them into our hands, and this is a sign to us.”^[a]

¹¹ So the two of them showed themselves to the Philistine force, and the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming up out of the holes in which they have hidden themselves.” ¹² Then the men of that force said to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come over to us and we will show you something.” Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come, follow me, for the Lord has delivered them into Israel’s hands.”

¹³ Jonathan climbed up using his hands and his feet, and his armor-bearer followed him. They fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer also put them to death after him. ¹⁴ That first time Jonathan and his armor-bearer slaughtered about twenty of them, all within half the area an ox could plow.

¹⁵ The army in the fields and all the people in the outposts and the raiding parties were seized with panic, and they were shaking so much that even the ground quaked, for it was a tremendous panic.

¹⁶ Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. ¹⁷ Saul said to the people who were with him, “Take stock and see who has left us.” They took stock, and Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. ¹⁸ Saul said to Abijah, “Bring the Ark of God here” (for the Ark of God was then with the Israelites). ¹⁹ While Saul was talking with the priest, the noise that was rising up from the Philistine army kept getting louder. Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” ²⁰ Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled and went into battle. There was great confusion, each man attacking his neighbor with his sword. ²¹ Furthermore, those Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and who had gone up into their camp changed sides to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²² When all of the Israelites who had hid themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they joined them in battle, chasing closely after them. ²³ Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day, and the fighting continued on through Beth-haven.