Now across the central mountains of the land, there was a pass, so that men might go across the country from the Jordan River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west. The valley of Michmash led up from the Jordan on one side and the valley of Ajalon led down to the sea-coast on the other. On the south side of this deep and narrow pass was a place called Geba; there Saul was encamped with his six hundred trembling men. On the north side was a place called Michmash; there the Philistines had so great an army that to count them was like counting the sand of the sea. There was a sharp rock on the north, called Bozez, the Shining; and a sharp rock on the south, called Seneh, the Strong; and the wood lay between them.
Then the young prince, Jonathan, spoke to his armor-bearer and said, “Come and let us go over to the Philistine garrison. It may be that the Lord will bless us, for it matters not to Him whether we be many or few.”
And the squire, his armor-bearer, said, “Do what you will; I will go with you.”
Now King Saul was sitting under a tree on the other side of the camp, so that he did not know what Jonathan was doing.
Jonathan said, “We will climb down to the bottom of the pass and show ourselves to the enemy. If they say, ‘Stay there, you Israelites, till we come down and get you,’ we will stand still in our place. But if they say, ‘Come up here, if you dare,’ then we will go up. That shall be a sign that the Lord is on our side.”
And pretty soon the watchmen of the Philistines saw two men in the wood at the bottom of the pass. And the Philistines said, “See, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they had hid themselves.” And they called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.”
And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come now, for the day is ours.”
And he climbed up the steep face of the pass on his hands and knees, and his squire climbed up after him. And suddenly, when nobody was looking, they fell upon the Philistines, shouting like a hundred men. And there was a panic in the Philistine camp. Nobody knew just what had happened. Some thought that a great army of Israelites, twice the size of theirs, and every soldier as big as a giant, had attacked them. And they began to tremble, and those who were next beyond them trembled, and even the earth trembled, so that it was a very great trembling. And they ran one against another.
And King Saul came out from under the tree where he had been sitting, and looked across the valley, he and his soldiers, and they said, “What is the matter? What is going on in the Philistine camp? Why do they run?” And Saul said, “See who is gone from us.” And it was found that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing. So they knew that these were the heroes who had scared the army of the Philistines. At first the men of Israel were uncertain what to do, whether to fight or to pray. Saul sent for the priest, and the priest gathered the people and began to pray that they might know what all this meant and what God would have them do. But while he prayed the noise in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased, and it was plain that the multitude was running like frightened sheep, and beating down one another as they ran. So Saul stopped the priest and called for the captain, and over they all went into the battle. And there were men of Israel in the camp of the Philistines, who had been taken prisoners, and they began to fight against their captors, and all the men who had hidden themselves in caves and pits and among the rocks came out to see what all this noise and tumult meant, and when they saw that the Philistines ran away, they ran after them. So there was a great defeat. And thus the day went until the sun began to set.
Then Saul took a great stone for an altar, and offered upon it the sacrifice of the people, and gave great thanks to God, and there was praise and rejoicing all that night. But the Philistines never stopped running till they had reached their own cities and had locked the gates behind them.