1 Samuel 11
1 Nahash the Ammonite went up and camped against Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
2 Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “I will make a treaty with you on this condition: that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and so bring shame on all Israel.”
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, so that we can send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one comes to save us, we will surrender to you.”
4 The messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people raised their voices and wept.
5 Just then Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. He asked, “Why is the people weeping?” They told him what the men of Jabesh had said.
6 The Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger burned fiercely.
7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the messengers, saying, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not go out after Saul and Samuel.” The fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they went out as one man.
8 He counted them at Bezek: the Israelites numbered three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Say this to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, when the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers went and told this to the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.
10 The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”
11 The next day Saul divided the people into three groups. They entered the middle of the camp during the morning watch and struck down Ammon until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, and not two of them remained together.
12 The people said to Samuel, “Who was it that said, ‘Is Saul to reign over us?’ Hand those men over, and we will kill them.”
13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, because today the LORD has brought deliverance to Israel.”
14 Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”
15 All the people went to Gilgal, and there at Gilgal they made Saul king before the LORD. There they offered fellowship sacrifices before the LORD, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app