⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(A)its blood.

²⁶ And ^(A)you are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings.

¹⁰ ‘^(A)And anyone from the house of Israel, or from the strangers who reside among them, who eats any blood, ^(B)I will set My face against that person who eats the blood, and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹ For ^(C)the ^[a]life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for ^(D)it is the blood by reason of the ^[b]life that makes atonement.’ ¹² Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any stranger who resides among you eat blood.’

³³ Then observers informed Saul, saying, “Look, the people are ^(A)sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood.” And he said, “You have acted treacherously; roll a large rock to me today.” ³⁴ Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Each one of you bring me his ox or his sheep, and slaughter it here and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating it with the blood.’” So all the people brought them that night, each one his ox ^[a]with him, and they slaughtered them there. ³⁵ And ^(B)Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

³⁶ Then Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines by night and take plunder among them until the morning light, and let’s not leave a man among them alive.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good ^[b]to you.” So ^(C)the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.” ³⁷ So Saul ^(D)inquired of God: “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You hand them over to Israel?” But ^(E)He did not answer him on that day. ³⁸ Then Saul said, “^(F)[c]Come here, all you ^[d]leaders of the people, and investigate and see how this sin has happened today. ³⁹ For ^(G)as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, even if it is in my son Jonathan, he shall assuredly die!” But not one of all the people answered him. ⁴⁰ Then he said to all Israel, “You shall be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good ^[e]to you.” ⁴¹ Therefore, Saul said to the Lord, the God of Israel, “^(H)Give a ^[f]perfect lot.” And Jonathan and Saul were selected by lot, but the people ^[g]were exonerated. ⁴² Then Saul said, “Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was selected by lot.

⁴³ So Saul said to Jonathan, “^(I)Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, and said, “^(J)I did indeed taste a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die!” ⁴⁴ And Saul said, “^(K)May God do the same to me and more also, for ^(L)you shall certainly die, Jonathan!” ⁴⁵ But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die, he who has ^[h]brought about this great ^[i]victory in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, ^(M)not even a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, because ^(N)he has worked with God this day.” So the people ^[j]rescued Jonathan and he did not die. ⁴⁶ Then Saul went up from ^[k]pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

Constant Warfare

⁴⁷ Now when Saul had taken control of the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, ^(O)the sons of Ammon, Edom, ^(P)the kings of Zobah, and ^(Q)the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he ^[l]inflicted punishment. ⁴⁸ And he acted valiantly and ^[m](R)defeated the Amalekites, and saved Israel from the hands of ^[n]those who plundered them.

⁴⁹ Now ^(S)the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was ^(T)Merab, and the name of the younger, ^(U)Michal. ⁵⁰ And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And ^(V)the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. ^51 (W)Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

⁵² Now the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul; and when Saul saw any warrior or any valiant man, he ^[o](X)attached him to his staff.

²⁰ but that we write to them that they abstain from ^[a](A)things contaminated by idols, from ^(B)acts of sexual immorality, from ^(C)what has been ^[b]strangled, and from blood.