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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 13 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Saul Fights the Philistines

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:1 - Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel,[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:2 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:3 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:4 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:5 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:6 - 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,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:7 - 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.

Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:8 - He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:9 - So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:10 - As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:11 - 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,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:12 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:13 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:14 - 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[fn] over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:15 - 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[fn] to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:16 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:17 - And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual;

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:18 - another company turned toward Beth-horon; and another company turned toward the border that looks down on the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:19 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:20 - But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle,[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:21 - and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel[fn] for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel[fn] for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:22 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 13:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 13:23 - And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew Saul was one year old when he became king, and he reigned two years over Israel; some Greek manuscripts give Saul's age when he began to reign as thirty years
Or leader
Septuagint; Hebrew lacks The rest of the people… from Gilgal
Septuagint; Hebrew plowshare
Hebrew was a pim
A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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1 Samuel Chapter 13 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras