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19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, ‘The Hebrews must not make swords or spears for themselves’; ²⁰so all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their ploughshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles;^{* 21}The charge was two-thirds of a shekel^* for the ploughshares and for the mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.^{* 22}So on the day of the battle neither sword nor spear was to be found in the possession of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Jonathan Surprises and Routs the Philistines

23 Now a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass of Michmash. 14¹One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.’ But he did not tell his father. ²Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron; the troops that were with him were about six hundred men, ³along with Ahijah son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, son of Phinehas son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, carrying an ephod. Now the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. ⁴In the pass,^* by which Jonathan tried to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other; the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵One crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.’ ⁷His armour-bearer said to him, ‘Do all that your mind inclines to.^* I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.’^{* 8}Then Jonathan said, ‘Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. ⁹If they say to us, “Wait until we come to you”, then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say, “Come up to us”, then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us.’ ¹¹So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, ‘Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.’ ¹²The men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armour-bearer, saying, ‘Come up to us, and we will show you something.’ Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, ‘Come up after me; for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.’ ¹³Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armour-bearer following after him. The Philistines^* fell before Jonathan, and his armour-bearer, coming after him, killed them. ¹⁴In that first slaughter Jonathan and his armour-bearer killed about twenty men within an area about half a furrow long in an acre^* of land. ¹⁵There was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked; and it became a very great panic.