12. and I was worried that they would attack me here at Gilgal. I hadn't offered a sacrifice to ask for the Lord's help, so I forced myself to offer a sacrifice on the altar fire.”
13. “That was stupid!” Samuel said. “You didn't obey the Lord your God. If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel.
14. But no, you disobeyed, and so the Lord won't choose anyone else from your family to be king. In fact, he has already chosen the one he wants to be the next leader of his people.”
15. Then Samuel left Gilgal.Part of Saul's army had not deserted him, and he led them to Gibeah in Benjamin to join his other troops. Then he counted them and found that he still had six hundred men.
16. Saul, Jonathan, and their army set up camp at Geba in Benjamin.The Philistine army was camped at Michmash.
17. Each day they sent out patrols to attack and rob villages and then destroy them. One patrol would go north along the road to Ophrah in the region of Shual.
18. Another patrol would go west along the road to Beth-Horon. A third patrol would go east towards the desert on the road to the ridge that overlooks Zeboim Valley.
19. The Philistines would not allow any Israelites to learn how to make iron tools. “If we allowed that,” they said, “those worthless Israelites would make swords and spears.”