17. So Saul said to his men, “Count the soldiers and find out who is missing.” They did so and found that Jonathan and the young man who carried his weapons were missing.
18. “Bring the ephod here,” Saul said to Ahijah the priest. (On that day Ahijah was carrying it in front of the people of Israel.)
19. As Saul was speaking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp got worse and worse, so Saul said to him, “There's no time to consult the Lord!”
20. Then he and his men marched into battle against the Philistines, who were fighting each other in complete confusion.
21. Some Hebrews, who had been on the Philistine side and had gone with them to the camp, changed sides again and joined Saul and Jonathan.
22. Others, who had been hiding in the hills of Ephraim, heard that the Philistines were running away, so they also joined in and attacked the Philistines,
23. fighting all the way beyond Bethaven. The Lord saved Israel that day.
24. The Israelites were weak with hunger that day, because Saul, with a solemn oath, had given the order: “A curse be on anyone who eats any food today before I take revenge on my enemies.” So nobody had eaten anything all day.
25. They all came into a wooded area and found honey everywhere.
26. The woods were full of honey, but no one ate any of it because they were all afraid of Saul's curse.
27. But Jonathan had not heard his father threaten the people with a curse; so he reached out with the stick he was carrying, dipped it in a honeycomb, and ate some honey. At once he felt much better.
28. But one of the men said, “We are all weak with hunger, but your father threatened us and said, ‘A curse be on anyone who eats any food today.’ ”
29. Jonathan answered, “What a terrible thing my father has done to our people! See how much better I feel because I ate some honey!
30. How much better it would have been today if our people had eaten the food they took when they defeated the enemy. Just think how many more Philistines they would have killed!”
31. That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines, fighting all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. By this time the Israelites were very weak with hunger,
32. and so they rushed over to what they had captured from the enemy, took sheep and cattle, slaughtered them on the spot, and ate the meat with the blood still in it.
33. Saul was told, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood in it.”“You are traitors!” Saul cried out. “Roll a big stone over here to me.”