1 Samuel 14:1-23 - Jonathan Leads The Counterattack
1 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man that bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of the Philistines, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; 3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, I-chabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
4 And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of the Philistines, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The front of the one was situated northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. 6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
7 And his armor-bearer said to him, Do all that is in thy heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over to these men, and we will discover ourselves to them. 9 If they say thus to us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them. 10 But if they say thus, Come up to us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand; and this shall be a sign to us.
11 And both of them discovered themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. 13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor-bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armor-bearer slew after him. 14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were a half-acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
15 And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling. 16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another. 17 Then said Saul to the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.
18 And Saul said to Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. 19 And it came to pass while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on, and increased: and Saul said to the priest, Withdraw thy hand.
20 And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. 21 Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the country around, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over to Beth-aven.