Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had
reigned for two years over Israel, Saul chose three thousand men of
Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill
country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of
Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his
tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at
Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet
throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” And all
Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the
Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the
Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

  And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty
thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the
sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in
Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that
they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people
hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and
in cisterns, and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to
the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the
people followed him trembling.

  He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel
did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So
Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace
offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had
finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul
went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you
done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering
from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and
that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the
Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not
sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself, and offered the
burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly.
You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he
commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your
kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not
continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and
the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because
you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” And Samuel arose
and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul
to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.

  And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six
hundred men. And Saul and Jonathan his son and the people who were
present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin, but the Philistines
encamped in Michmash. And raiders came out of the camp of the
Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward Ophrah,
to the land of Shual; another company turned toward Beth-horon; and
another company turned toward the border that looks down on the
Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

  Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land
of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make
themselves swords or spears.” But every one of the Israelites went
down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his
axe, or his sickle, and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for
the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for
sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. So on the day of the
battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any
of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son
had them. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass
of Michmash.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.