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THE MESSAGE

1 Samuel 14:31

They killed Philistines that day all the way from Micmash to Aijalon, but the soldiers ended up totally exhausted. Then they started plundering. They grabbed anything in sight—sheep, cattle, calves—and butchered it where they found it. Then they glutted themselves—meat, blood, the works.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ajalon;   Michmash;   Thompson Chain Reference - Aijalon;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Armies of Israel, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Philistines;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Philistia, philistines;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Philistines;   Saul;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Aijalon;   Altar;   Court Systems;   Jonathan;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gibeah;   Israel;   Jonathan;   Michmash;   Philistines;   Samuel, Books of;   Saul;   Urim and Thummim;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jonathan ;   Michmas, Michmash ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Ajalon;   Jonathan;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Aij'alon;   Jon'athan,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Jephthah;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Aijalon;   Faint;   Samuel, Books of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ajalon;   Ban;   Jonathan, Jehonathan;   Palestine;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Israelites struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash all the way to Aijalon. Since the Israelites were completely exhausted,
Hebrew Names Version
They struck of the Pelishtim that day from Mikhmash to Ayalon. The people were very faint;
King James Version
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.
Lexham English Bible
They defeated the Philistines that day from Micmash to Aijalon, and the troops were very weary.
English Standard Version
They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint.
New Century Version
That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon. After that, they were very tired.
New English Translation
On that day the army struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, and they became very tired.
Amplified Bible
They struck the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very tired.
New American Standard Bible
They attacked the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. But the people were very tired.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And they smote the Philistims that day, from Michmash to Aiialon: and the people were exceeding faint.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then they struck among the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very weary.
Contemporary English Version
By evening the Israelite army was exhausted from killing Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon.
Complete Jewish Bible
That day they had attacked the P'lishtim from Mikhmas to Ayalon; but the people were very exhausted.
Darby Translation
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ajalon; and the people were very faint.
Easy-to-Read Version
That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines. They fought them all the way from Micmash to Aijalon. So the people were very tired and hungry.
George Lamsa Translation
We have smitten the Philistines today from Michmash to Aijalon; and the people are very faint with hunger.
Good News Translation
That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines, fighting all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. By this time the Israelites were very weak from hunger,
Literal Translation
And they struck the Philistines on that day from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people were very weak.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yet smote they the Philistynes the same daye fro Michmas vnto Aialon, and the people were very weery.
American Standard Version
And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint;
Bible in Basic English
That day they overcame the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were feeble from need of food.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they smote the Philistines that day, from Michmas to Aialon: And the people were exceeding faynt.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmas to Aijalon; and the people were very faint.
King James Version (1611)
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aiialon: and the people were very faint.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And on that day he smote some of the Philistines in Machmas; and the people were very weary.
English Revised Version
And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.
Berean Standard Bible
That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfore thei smytiden Filisteis in that dai fro Machynas `til in to Hailon. Forsothe the puple was maad ful wery;
Young's Literal Translation
And they smite on that day among the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people are very weary,
Update Bible Version
And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint;
Webster's Bible Translation
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ajalon: and the people were very faint.
World English Bible
They struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. The people were very faint;
New King James Version
Now they had driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint.
New Living Translation
They chased and killed the Philistines all day from Micmash to Aijalon, growing more and more faint.
New Life Bible
They killed the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very tired and weak.
New Revised Standard
After they had struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon, the troops were very faint;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Howbeit they smote the Philistines on that day from Michmash to Aijalon, - but the people became exceeding faint.
Douay-Rheims Bible
So they smote that day the Philistines, from Machmas to Aialon. And the people were wearied exceedingly.
Revised Standard Version
They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ai'jalon. And the people were very faint;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They struck among the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very weary.

Contextual Overview

24 Saul did something really foolish that day. He addressed the army: "A curse on the man who eats anything before evening, before I've wreaked vengeance on my enemies!" None of them ate a thing all day. 25There were honeycombs here and there in the fields. But no one so much as put his finger in the honey to taste it, for the soldiers to a man feared the curse. But Jonathan hadn't heard his father put the army under oath. He stuck the tip of his staff into some honey and ate it. Refreshed, his eyes lit up with renewed vigor. 28 A soldier spoke up, "Your father has put the army under solemn oath, saying, ‘A curse on the man who eats anything before evening!' No wonder the soldiers are drooping!" 29Jonathan said, "My father has imperiled the country. Just look how quickly my energy has returned since I ate a little of this honey! It would have been a lot better, believe me, if the soldiers had eaten their fill of whatever they took from the enemy. Who knows how much worse we could have whipped them!" 31They killed Philistines that day all the way from Micmash to Aijalon, but the soldiers ended up totally exhausted. Then they started plundering. They grabbed anything in sight—sheep, cattle, calves—and butchered it where they found it. Then they glutted themselves—meat, blood, the works. 33Saul was told, "Do something! The soldiers are sinning against God . They're eating meat with the blood still in it!" Saul said, "You're biting the hand that feeds you! Roll a big rock over here—now!" He continued, "Disperse among the troops and tell them, ‘Bring your oxen and sheep to me and butcher them properly here. Then you can feast to your heart's content. Please don't sin against God by eating meat with the blood still in it.'" And so they did. That night each soldier, one after another, led his animal there to be butchered. 35 That's the story behind Saul's building an altar to God . It's the first altar to God that he built.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

from Michmash: The distance, Calmet states to be three or four leagues.

Aijalon: Joshua 10:12, Joshua 19:42

Reciprocal: Genesis 25:29 - and he Judges 8:4 - faint 1 Samuel 13:2 - Michmash 1 Samuel 30:10 - so faint Isaiah 10:28 - Michmash

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon,.... Michmash was the place where the camp of the Philistines was when Jonathan first attacked them, and from whence they fled, and they were pursued by the Israelites that day as far as Aijalon. There was a city of this name in the tribe of Dan, famous for the moon standing still in a valley adjoining to it, in the time of Joshua, Joshua 10:12 and another in the tribe of Zebulun, Judges 12:12, but they both seem to be at too great a distance to be the place here meant, which rather seems to be Aijalon in the tribe of Judah, 2 Chronicles 11:10 according to Bunting z, it was twelve miles from Michmash:

and the people were very faint; as they might well be, with pursuing the enemy so many miles, and doing so much execution among them, without eating any food.

z Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 127.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Aijalon. - The modern Yalo. It lies upon the side of a hill to the south of a fine valley which opens from between the two Bethhorons right down to the western plain of the Philistines, exactly on the route which the Philistines, when expelled from the high country about Michmash and Bethel, would take to regain their own country. Aijalon would be 15 or 20 miles from Michmash.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 14:31. They smote the Philistines - from Mishmash to Aijalon — The distance Calmet states to be three or four leagues.


 
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