< 1 Samuel 11 >
1 And Nahash the Ammonite comes up, and encamps against Jabesh-Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh say to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we serve you.”
Nahash the Ammonite came with his army and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All the people of Jabesh said to him, “Make a peace treaty with us, and we will be your subjects.”
2 And Nahash the Ammonite says to them, “For this I cut [a covenant] with you, in picking out every right eye of yours—and I have set it [for] a reproach on all Israel.”
But Nahash the Ammonite responded, “I'll make a peace treaty with you on one condition: that I gouge out everyone's right eye to bring shame on all Israelites.”
3 And [the] elderly of Jabesh say to him, “Leave us alone [for] seven days, and we send messengers into all the border of Israel: and if there is none saving us—then we have come out to you.”
“Let us have seven days so we can send messengers all over Israel,” replied the town elders of Jabesh. “If no one comes to help us, we will surrender to you.”
4 And the messengers come to Gibeah of Saul, and speak the words in the ears of the people, and all the people lift up their voice and weep;
When the messengers arrived in Gibeah of Saul and gave the message as the people listened, they all wept out loud.
5 and behold, Saul has come out of the field after the herd, and Saul says, “What [is that] to the people, that they weep?” And they recount the words of the men of Jabesh to him.
Right then Saul was coming back from ploughing a field with his oxen. “Why is everyone so upset?” he asked. They told him what the men from Jabesh had said.
6 And the Spirit of God prospers over Saul, in his hearing these words, and his anger burns greatly,
The Spirit of God came on Saul in power when he heard about this, and he grew very angry.
7 and he takes a couple of oxen, and cuts them in pieces, and sends [them] through all the border of Israel, by the hand of the messengers, saying, “He who is not coming out after Saul and after Samuel—thus it is done to his oxen”; and the fear of YHWH falls on the people, and they come out as one man.
He took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. Then he sent them by messenger to every part of Israel with the message, “This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” The Lord made the people anxious to do so, and they came out as one.
8 And he inspects them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel are three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
When Saul counted them at Bezek, there were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.
9 And they say to the messengers who are coming, “Thus you say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead: Tomorrow you have safety—by the heat of the sun”; and the messengers come and declare [it] to the men of Jabesh, and they rejoice;
They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow you'll be rescued, by the time the sun is hot.’” The people of Jabesh were so happy when the messengers arrived and told them this.
10 and the men of Jabesh say [to the Ammonites], “Tomorrow we come out to you, and you have done to us according to all that [is] good in your eyes.”
They told the Ammonites, “We will surrender to you tomorrow, and then you can do to us whatever you want.”
11 And it comes to pass, on the next day, that Saul puts the people in three detachments, and they come into the midst of the camp in the morning-watch, and strike Ammon until the heat of the day; and it comes to pass that those left are scattered, and there have not been left two of them together.
The next day Saul organized the army into three divisions. They attacked the Ammonite camp before dawn and went on killing them until the day grew hot. The survivors were so scattered that not even two of them were left together.
12 And the people say to Samuel, “Who is he that says, Saul reigns over us? Give up the men, and we put them to death.”
Then the people asked Samuel, “Who was saying, ‘Why should we have Saul as our king?’ Hand these men over so we can execute them.”
13 And Saul says, “There is no man put to death on this day, for today YHWH has worked salvation in Israel.”
But Saul replied, “No one's going to be executed today, for this is the day that the Lord saved Israel.”
14 And Samuel says to the people, “Come and we go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there”;
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come with me—let's go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom.”
15 and all the people go to Gilgal, and cause Saul to reign there before YHWH in Gilgal, and sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings there before YHWH, and Saul rejoices there—and all the men of Israel—very greatly.
Everyone went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king before the Lord. They sacrificed friendship offerings to the Lord, and Saul together with all the Israelites had a great celebration.