1Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Cut a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”
2But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you: by gouging out every right eye of yours, and so I will make it a disgrace upon all Israel.”
3And the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, so that we may send messengers throughout all the territory of Israel; and if there is no one to save us, then we will come out to you.”
4So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke the words in the ears of the people; and all the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5Now behold, Saul was coming in behind the oxen from the field, and Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” And they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh.
6And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger burned greatly.
7He took a pair of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of Yahweh fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.
8And he mustered them at Bezek; and the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, deliverance will be yours.’” So the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.
10And the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever is good in your eyes.”
11And it happened on the next day that Saul set the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp during the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who were left were so scattered that no two of them remained together.
12Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Hand over the men, that we may put them to death.”
13But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today Yahweh has worked deliverance in Israel.”
14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”
15So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before Yahweh at Gilgal; and there they sacrificed peace offerings before Yahweh, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced exceedingly.
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