1 Samuel 11
11
Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh Gilead
1Nahash was the king of Ammon. He and his army went up to Jabesh Gilead. They surrounded it and got ready to attack it. All the men of Jabesh spoke to Nahash. They said, “Make a peace treaty with us. Then we’ll be under your control.”
2Nahash, the king of Ammon, replied, “I will make a peace treaty with you. But I’ll do it only on one condition. You must let me put out the right eye of every one of you. I want to bring shame on the whole nation of Israel.”
3The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days to report back to you. We’ll send messengers all through Israel. If no one comes to save us, we’ll hand ourselves over to you.”
4The messengers came to Gibeah of Saul. They reported to the people the terms Nahash had required. Then all the people wept out loud. 5Just then Saul was coming in from the fields. He was walking behind his oxen. He asked, “What’s wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” He was told what the men of Jabesh had said.
6When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully on him. He became very angry. 7He got a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. He sent the pieces by messengers all through Israel. They announced, “You must follow Saul and Samuel. If you don’t, this is what will happen to your oxen.” The terror of the Lord fell on the people. So all of them came together with one purpose in mind. 8Saul brought his army together at Bezek. There were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 from Judah.
9The messengers who had come were told, “Go back and report to the men of Jabesh Gilead. Tell them, ‘By the hottest time of the day tomorrow, you will be rescued.’ ” The messengers went and reported it to the men of Jabesh. It made those men very happy. 10They said to the people of Ammon, “Tomorrow we’ll hand ourselves over to you. Then you can do to us whatever you like.”
11The next day Saul separated his men into three groups. While it was still dark, they broke into the camp of the Ammonite army. They kept killing the men of Ammon until the hottest time of the day. Those who got away were scattered. There weren’t two of them left together anywhere.
The People Agree to Have Saul as King
12The people said to Samuel, “Who asked, ‘Is Saul going to rule over us?’ Turn these men over to us. We’ll put them to death.”
13But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today! After all, this is the day the Lord has rescued Israel.”
14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come on. Let’s go to Gilgal. There we’ll agree again to have Saul as our king.” 15So all the people went to Gilgal. There, with the Lord as witness, they made Saul their king. There they sacrificed friendship offerings to the Lord. And there Saul and all the Israelites celebrated with great joy.
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1 Samuel 11: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1 Samuel 11
11
1Nahash the Ammonite came with his army#11:1. “With his army”: added for clarity. and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All the people of Jabesh said to him, “Make a peace treaty with us, and we will be your subjects.”
2But 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“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.”
4When the messengers arrived in the town called Gibeah of Saul and gave the message as the people listened, they all wept out loud.
5Right then Saul was coming back from plowing a field with his oxen. “Why is everyone so upset?” he asked. They told him what the men from Jabesh had said.
6The Spirit of God came on Saul in power when he heard about this, and he grew very angry. 7He 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#11:7. “The Lord made the people anxious”: literally “The fear of the Lord fell on the people.” This could be interpreted either as the Lord being the source of the fear, or the object of fear. In any case the result is that the people support Saul. to do so, and they came out as one. 8When Saul counted them at Bezek, there were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.
9They 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. 10They told the Ammonites, “We will surrender to you tomorrow, and then you can do to us whatever you want.”
11The 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.
12Then the people asked Samuel, “Who was saying, ‘Why should we have Saul as our king?’ Hand these men over so we can execute them.”
13But Saul replied, “No one's going to be executed today, for this is the day that the Lord saved Israel.”
14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come with me—let's go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom.”
15Everyone 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.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com