1 Samuel Chapter 11    

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite came 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.”
 

²Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition, I will cut a covenant with you: that all of your right eyes be gouged out; and so I will bring disgrace upon all Israel.”
 

³The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel, and then if there is no one to save us we will come out to you.”
 

⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke those words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and wept.
  ⁵And behold, Saul came out of the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, “What is wrong with the people that they are crying?” Then they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.
 

⁶And the spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned exceedingly.
  ⁷And he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out to follow Saul and follow Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen.” And the terror of Yahweh fell on the people and they came out as one man.
 

⁸And he counted them in Bezek, and the children of Israel were 300,000 and the men of Judah 30,000.
  ⁹And they said to the messengers who came, “Say this to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance.’” And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.
 

¹⁰So the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you can do with us whatever seems good to you.”
 

¹¹And the next day Saul put the people in three companies and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
 

¹²And the people said to Samuel, “Who said, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men so that we may put them to death!”
 

¹³But Saul said, “No one will be put to death this day. For today Yahweh has brought about deliverance in Israel.”
 

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let’s go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”
  ¹⁵All the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal, and they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh there, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly there.