The soldiers rescued Jonathan from Saul

36 Then Saul said to the Israeli soldiers, “Let’s pursue the Philistia soldiers tonight. We can attack them all night. We will not allow any of them to escape alive.”

The Israeli soldiers answered, “We will do whatever you think is the best thing for us to do.”

But the priest said, “We should ask Yahweh what he thinks we should do.” 37 So Saul asked God, “Should we pursue the Philistine soldiers? Will you enable us to defeat them?” But God did not answer Saul that day.

38 Then Saul summoned all the leaders of his army. He said to them, “I am sure that God has not answered me because someone has sinned. We must find out what sin someone has committed. 39 Yahweh has rescued us from the Philistia army. Just as certain as Yahweh lives, whoever has sinned must be executed. Even if it is my son Jonathan who has sinned, he must be executed.”

His men knew who was guilty, but none of them said anything to Saul. 40 Then Saul said to all the Israeli soldiers, “You stand on one side. My son Jonathan and I will stand on the other side.”

His men replied, “Do whatever you think is best.” 41 Then Saul prayed to Yahweh, the Israelis’ God, “Tell me who is guilty and who is not guilty.” Then the priest ◄cast lots/threw the stones that were marked►, and they indicated that it was either Jonathan or Saul who was the guilty one, and that the other men were not guilty. 42 Then Saul said to the priest, “Throw the stones again to indicate which of us two is guilty.” So he did, and the stones indicated that Jonathan was the guilty one.

43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done that was wrong.”

Jonathan replied, “I ate a little bit of honey. It was only a little bit that was on the end of my stick. Do I deserve to be executed because of doing that?” 44 Saul replied, “Yes, you must be executed! I hope/wish that God will strike me and kill me if you are not executed for having done that!”

45 But the Israeli soldiers said to Saul, “Jonathan has won a great victory for all us Israelis. Should he be executed for eating some honey [RHQ]? Certainly not! Just as surely as Yahweh lives, we will not allow you to injure him in any manner [IDM], because today God helped Jonathan to kill many soldiers of the Philistia army!”

So by saying that the Israeli soldiers rescued Jonathan, and he was not executed. 46 Then Saul ordered his soldiers to stop pursuing the Philistia army, so the Philistia soldiers returned to their homes.