1 I ett år hadde Saul dengang vært konge; og da han hadde vært konge over Israel i to år,
2 valgte han sig tre tusen mann av Israel; av dem var to tusen med Saul i Mikmas og i Betel-fjellene, og tusen var med Jonatan i Gibea i Benjamin; resten av folket lot han fare hjem hver til sitt.
3 Og Jonatan slo det krigsmannskap som filistrene hadde i Geba; det fikk filistrene høre; men Saul lot basunen lyde rundt omkring i hele landet og sa: Hebreerne skal høre det.
4 Og hele Israel fikk høre tidenden om at Saul hadde slått filistrenes krigsmannskap, og at filistrene hadde lagt Israel for hat. Og folket blev kalt til våben for å følge Saul til Gilgal.
5 Filistrene samlet sig for å stride mot Israel, tretti tusen vogner og seks tusen hestfolk, og fotfolk så mange som sanden ved havets bredd; og de drog op og leiret sig ved Mikmas østenfor Bet-Aven.
6 Da nu Israels menn så hvilken fare de var i fordi folket blev hårdt angrepet, da skjulte folket sig i huler og tornebusker og fjellkløfter og tårner og brønner.
7 Nogen av hebreerne gikk over Jordan til Gads og Gileads land; men Saul var ennu i Gilgal, og alt folket fulgte ham skjelvende.
8 Han ventet syv dager - til den tid Samuel hadde fastsatt; men Samuel kom ikke til Gilgal, og folket spredte sig og forlot ham.
9 Da sa Saul: Kom hit til mig med brennofferet og takkofferne! Og så ofret han brennofferet.
10 Men da han vel hadde ofret brennofferet, da kom Samuel, og Saul gikk ut imot ham for å hilse på ham.
11 Da sa Samuel: Hvad har du gjort? Saul svarte: Da jeg så at folket spredte sig og forlot mig, og du ikke kom til den fastsatte tid, og filistrene samlet sig ved Mikmas.
12 så tenkte jeg: Nu drar filistrene ned mot mig til Gilgal, og jeg har ennu ikke bønnfalt Herren, og jeg tok mot til mig og ofret brennofferet.
13 Da sa Samuel til Saul: Du har båret dig dårlig at, du har ikke holdt det bud som Herren din Gud gav dig; ellers hadde Herren nu stadfestet ditt kongedømme over Israel for all tid.
14 Men nu skal ditt kongedømme ikke stå ved makt; Herren har søkt sig ut en mann efter sitt hjerte, og ham har Herren utsett til fyrste over sitt folk; for du har ikke holdt hvad Herren bød dig.
15 Så gjorde Samuel sig rede og drog fra Gilgal op til Gibea i Benjamin, og Saul mønstret de folk han hadde hos sig - omkring seks hundre mann.
16 Og Saul og hans sønn Jonatan og de folk som de hadde hos sig, lå i Geba i Benjamin, og filistrene hadde leiret sig ved Mikmas.
17 Da drog det en flokk ut av filistrenes leir for å herje; den var delt i tre hoper; den ene hop tok veien til Ofra, til Sual-bygden,
18 og den annen hop tok veien til Bet-Horon, og den tredje hop tok veien til den bygd som rager op over Sebo'im-dalen bortimot ørkenen.
19 Dengang fantes det ikke en smed i hele Israels land; for filistrene tenkte som så: Hebreerne kunde ellers gjøre sig sverd eller spyd.
20 Og hele Israel måtte gå ned til filistrene for å få smidd sine plogjern og sine hakker, sine økser og sine plogskjær,
21 og når eggen var sløvet på plogskjærene og hakkene og grepene og øksene, eller for å få en pigg påsatt.
22 Således gikk det til at på den dag da striden stod, fantes det ikke sverd eller spyd hos nogen av alle de folk som var med Saul og Jonatan; bare Saul og hans sønn Jonatan hadde disse våben.
23 Filistrenes forpost rykket frem til Mikmas-skaret.
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2 And Saul took for himself three thousand men of Israel, of whom he kept two thousand with him in Michmash and in the mountain of Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin: the rest of the people he sent back to their tents.
3 And Jonathan made an attack on the armed force of the Philistines stationed at Gibeah; and news was given to the Philistines that the Hebrews were turned against them. And Saul had a horn sounded through all the land,
4 And all Israel had the news that Saul had made an attack on the Philistines, and that Israel was bitterly hated by the Philistines. And the people came together after Saul to Gilgal.
5 And the Philistines came together to make war on Israel, three thousand war-carriages and six thousand horsemen and an army of people like the sands of the sea in number: they came up and took up their position in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw the danger they were in, (for the people were troubled,) they took cover in cracks in the hillsides and in the woods and in rocks and holes and hollows.
7 And a great number of the people had gone over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people went after him shaking in fear.
8 And he went on waiting there for seven days, the time fixed by Samuel: but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were starting to go away from him.
9 Then Saul said, Come here and give me the burned offering and the peace-offerings. And he made a burned offering to the Lord.
10 And when the burned offering was ended, Samuel came; and Saul went out to see him and to give him a blessing.
11 And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were going away from me, and you had not come at the time which had been fixed, and the Philistines had come together at Michmash;
12 I said, Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal, and I have made no prayer for help to the Lord: and so, forcing myself to do it, I made a burned offering.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done a foolish thing: you have not kept the rules which the Lord your God gave you; it was the purpose of the Lord to make your authority over Israel safe for ever.
14 But now, your authority will not go on: the Lord, searching for a man who is pleasing to him in every way, has given him the place of ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord gave you orders to do.
15 Then Samuel went up from Gilgal and the rest of the people went up after Saul against the men of war, and they came from Gilgal to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin: and Saul took the number of the people who were with him, about six hundred men.
16 And Saul, with Jonathan his son and the people who were with them, was waiting in Geba in the land of Benjamin: but the tents of the Philistines were in Michmash.
17 And three bands of men came out from the Philistines to make an attack; one band went by the road which goes to Ophrah, into the land of Shual:
18 And another went in the direction of Beth-horon: and another went by the hill looking down on the valley of Zeboiim, in the direction of the waste land.
19 Now there was no iron-worker in all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, For fear the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears:
20 But all the Israelites had to go to the Philistines to get their ploughs and blades and axes and hooks made sharp;
21 For they had instruments for putting an edge on their ploughs and blades and forks and axes, and for putting iron points on their ox-driving rods.
22 So on the day of the fight at Michmash, not a sword or a spear was to be seen in the hands of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan: only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.
23 And the armed force of the Philistines went out to the narrow way of Michmash.