21. Even the Hebrews who had previously gone over to the Philistine army revolted and joined in with Saul, Jonathan, and the rest of the Israelites.
22. Likewise, the men of Israel who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim joined the chase when they saw the Philistines running away.
23. So the lord saved Israel that day, and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-aven.
24. Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day, because Saul had placed them under an oath, saying, “Let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.” So no one ate anything all day,
25. even though they had all found honeycomb on the ground in the forest.
26. They didn’t dare touch the honey because they all feared the oath they had taken.
27. But Jonathan had not heard his father’s command, and he dipped the end of his stick into a piece of honeycomb and ate the honey. After he had eaten it, he felt refreshed.
28. But one of the men saw him and said, “Your father made the army take a strict oath that anyone who eats food today will be cursed. That is why everyone is weary and faint.”
29. “My father has made trouble for us all!” Jonathan exclaimed. “A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I have eaten this little bit of honey.
30. If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our enemies, think how many more Philistines we could have killed!”
31. They chased and killed the Philistines all day from Micmash to Aijalon, growing more and more faint.