1 Samuel 14:28-29

14:28 Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath¹ saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.” 14:29 Then Jonathan said, “My father has caused trouble for the land. See how my eyes gleamed² when I tasted just a little of this honey.

1 Samuel 14:36-46

14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout³ them until the break of day.⁴ We won’t leave any of them alive!”⁵ They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.”⁶ But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.” 14:37 So Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

14:38 Then Saul said, “All you leaders of the army come here. Find out⁷ how this sin occurred today. 14:39 For as surely as the Lord, the deliverer of Israel, lives, even if it turns out to be my own son Jonathan, he will certainly die!” But no one from the army said anything.⁸

14:40 Then he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The army replied to Saul, “Do whatever you think is best.”

14:41 Then Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel! If this sin has been committed by me or by my son Jonathan, then, O Lord God of Israel, respond with Urim. But if this sin has been committed by your people Israel, respond with Thummim.”⁹ Then Jonathan and Saul were indicated by lot, while the army was exonerated.¹⁰ 14:42 Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan!”¹¹ Jonathan was indicated by lot.

14:43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!”¹² 14:44 Saul said, “God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!”¹³

14:45 But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground! For it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death.¹⁴

14:46 Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines, and the Philistines went back home.¹⁵

¹tn Heb “your father surely put the army under an oath.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize the solemn nature of the oath.

²tc The LXX reads “saw.” See v. 27.

³tn Heb “plunder.”

⁴tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

⁵tn Heb “and there will not be left among them a man.”

⁶tn Heb “all that is good in your eyes.” So also in v. 40.

⁷tn Heb “know and see.”

⁸tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

⁹tc Heb “to the Lord God of Israel: ‘Give what is perfect.’” The Hebrew textual tradition has accidentally omitted several words here. The present translation follows the LXX (as do several English versions, cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 247-48, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 132.

sn The Urim and Thummim were used for lot casting in ancient Israel. Their exact identity is uncertain; they may have been specially marked stones drawn from a bag. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8, and Deut 33:8, as well as the discussion in R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 140.

¹⁰tn Heb “went out.”

¹¹tc The LXX includes the following words: “Whomever the Lord will indicate by the lot, let him die! And the people said to Saul, ‘It is not this word.’ But Saul prevailed over the people, and they cast lots between him and between Jonathan his son.”

¹²tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

¹³tn Heb “So God will do and so he will add, surely you will certainly die, Jonathan.”

¹⁴tn Heb “and he did not die.”

¹⁵tn Heb “to their place.”