1 Samuel 14:18-19

14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” 1  for he was at that time wearing the ephod. 2  14:19 While 3  Saul spoke to the priest, the panic in the Philistines’ camp was becoming greater and greater. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!”

1 Samuel 14:36-42

14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout 4  them until the break of day. 5  We won’t leave any of them alive!” 6  They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.” 7  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 out 8  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. 9 

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.” 10  Then Jonathan and Saul were indicated by lot, while the army was exonerated. 11  14:42 Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan!” 12  Jonathan was indicated by lot.

1 tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

2 tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.

3 tn Or perhaps “until.”

4 tn Heb “plunder.”

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

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

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

8 tn Heb “know and see.”

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

10 tc 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.

11 tn Heb “went out.”

12 tc 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.”