¹Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh of Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Cut a covenant with us, and we will serve you."

²And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "On this condition I will cut a covenant with you: by gouging out every right eye of yours, and I will set it as a reproach on all Israel."

³And the elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us slack for seven days, and we will send messengers throughout all the territory of Israel; and if there is no one delivering us, we will come out to you."

⁴And 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.

⁵And look, Saul was coming behind the cattle from the field, and Saul said, "What is it with the people, that they are weeping?" And they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

⁶And the breath of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger burned exceedingly.

⁷And he 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 go out after Saul and after Samuel, thus it will be done to his oxen." And the dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they went out as one man.

⁸And he mustered them at Bezek; and they were the children of Israel 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 of Gilead: 'Tomorrow deliverance will be yours, when the sun is hot.'" And 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 shall do to us according to all that is good in your eyes."

¹¹And it was, on the next day, that Saul set the people in three companies, and they went into the middle of the camp in the watch of the morning and struck down Ammon until the heat of the day; and it was that those who remained were scattered, and no two of them were left together.

¹²And the people said to Samuel, "Who is the one who said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Give over the men, and we will put them to death."

¹³And Saul said, "No man shall be put to death on this day; for today Yahweh has worked deliverance in Israel."

¹⁴And Samuel said to the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and we will renew the kingdom there."

¹⁵And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the face of Yahweh at Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices, peace offerings, before the face of Yahweh, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.