12. So I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down to attack me at Gilgal. And I haven't asked the Lord to show us his favor.' So I felt I had to sacrifice the burnt offering."
13. "You did a foolish thing," Samuel said. "You haven't obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, he would have made your kingdom secure over Israel for all time to come.
14. But now your kingdom won't last. The Lord has already looked for a man who is dear to his heart. He has appointed him leader of his people. That's because you haven't obeyed the Lord's command."
15. Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. Saul counted the men who stayed with him. The total number was about 600.
16. Saul and his son Jonathan were staying in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. What was left of the army was there with them. At the same time, the Philistines camped at Micmash.
17. Three groups of soldiers went out from the Philistine camp to attack Israel. One group turned and went toward Ophrah in the area of Shual.
18. Another went toward Beth Horon. The third went toward the border that looked out over the Valley of Zeboim. That valley faces the desert.
19. There weren't any blacksmiths in the whole land of Israel. That's because the Philistines had said, "The Hebrews might hire them to make swords or spears!"
20. So all of the people of Israel had to go down to the Philistines. They had to go to them to get their plows, hoes, axes and sickles sharpened.
21. It cost a fourth of an ounce of silver to sharpen a plow or a hoe. It cost an eighth of an ounce to sharpen a pitchfork or an axe. That's also what it cost to put new tips on large sticks that were used to drive oxen.
22. So not one of Saul's or Jonathan's soldiers had a sword or spear in his hand when he went out to battle. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had those weapons.