4 To reach the Philistines, he had to go along a narrow valley. There were high rocks on both sides of the road. The name of one rock was ‘Bozez’. The name of the other rock was ‘Seneh’. 5 The rock on the north side of the road was near Michmash. The rock on the south side was near Geba.
6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Now we will go to the camp of those foreign people. Perhaps the Lord will help us to win the fight. He can win a battle whether there are many soldiers or only a few.’
7 The young man said, ‘You must do whatever you think is right. I will serve you faithfully all the way.’
8 Jonathan said, ‘Listen! We will go across to the Philistines now. We will let them see us. 9 They may tell us to stop and wait for them to come to us. If they say that, we will stay here. 10 But they may ask us to go up and fight against them. Then we will do that. We will know that the Lord has put them under our power. It will be his sign to us.’
11 Jonathan and the young man stood where the Philistine soldiers could see them. The Philistines said, ‘Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding.’
12 They shouted to Jonathan and the young man, ‘Come up here to fight against us! We will teach you how to fight!’
Jonathan said to the young man, ‘Follow me as I climb up to them. The Lord has put those men under Israel's power!’
13 Jonathan climbed up the rock wall on his hands and his feet. The young man climbed up behind him. Jonathan attacked and killed some of the Philistines. The young man followed behind Jonathan and killed more of them. 14 In the first fight, Jonathan and his young man killed about 20 Philistines in a small area.
15 All the other soldiers in the Philistine army then became very afraid. This included the soldiers in the camp, those in the fields, those who were guards, and the groups who were attacking other towns. Even the ground shook because God had made them all very afraid.
16 Some of Saul's soldiers who were with him in Gibeah were watching the Philistines. They saw that their soldiers were running away in different directions. 17 Saul said to his men, ‘Count our soldiers. Find out who is not here.’ When they did that, Jonathan and the young man who carried his armour were not there.
