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43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!”[a] 44 Saul said, “God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!”[b]

45 But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground, for it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 14:43 tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).
  2. 1 Samuel 14:44 tn Heb “So God will do and so he will add, surely you will certainly die, Jonathan.”
  3. 1 Samuel 14:45 tn Heb “and he did not die.”

43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.”(A)

So Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey(B) with the end of my staff. And now I must die!”

44 Saul said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely,(C) if you do not die, Jonathan.(D)

45 But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair(E) of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued(F) Jonathan, and he was not put to death.

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