1 Samuel 11
11
1And Nahash the Ammonite cometh up, and encampeth against Jabesh-Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh say unto Nahash, ‘Make with us a covenant, and we serve thee.’
2And Nahash the Ammonite saith unto them, ‘For this I covenant with you, by picking out to you every right eye — and I have put it a reproach on all Israel.’
3And the elders of Jabesh say to him, ‘Let us alone seven days, and we send messengers into all the border of Israel: and if there is none saving us — then we have come out unto thee.’
4And the messengers come to Gibeah of Saul, and speak the words in the ears of the people, and all the people lift up their voice and weep;
5and lo, Saul hath come after the herd out of the field, and Saul saith, ‘What — to the people, that they weep?’ and they recount to him the words of the men of Jabesh.
6And the Spirit of God doth prosper over Saul, in his hearing these words, and his anger burneth greatly,
7and he taketh a couple of oxen, and cutteth them in pieces, and sendeth through all the border of Israel, by the hand of the messengers, saying, ‘He who is not coming out after Saul and after Samuel — thus it is done to his oxen;’ and the fear of Jehovah falleth on the people, and they come out as one man.
8And he inspecteth them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel are three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9And they say to the messengers who are coming, ‘Thus do ye say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead: To-morrow ye have safety — by the heat of the sun;’ and the messengers come and declare to the men of Jabesh, and they rejoice;
10and the men of Jabesh say [to the Ammonites], ‘To-morrow we come out unto you, and ye have done to us according to all that [is] good in your eyes.’
11And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Saul putteth the people in three detachments, and they come into the midst of the camp in the morning-watch, and smite Ammon till the heat of the day; and it cometh to pass that those left are scattered, and there have not been left of them two together.
12And the people say unto Samuel, ‘Who is he that saith, Saul doth reign over us! give ye up the men, and we put them to death.’
13And Saul saith, ‘There is no man put to death on this day, for to-day hath Jehovah wrought salvation in Israel.’
14And Samuel saith unto the people, ‘Come and we go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there;’
15and all the people go to Gilgal, and cause Saul to reign there before Jehovah in Gilgal, and sacrifice there sacrifices of peace-offerings before Jehovah, and there Saul rejoiceth — and all the men of Israel — very greatly.
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1 Samuel 11: YLT98
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1 Samuel 11
11
Saul Rescues the Town of Jabesh in Gilead
1About this time,#10.27—11.1 But Saul … time: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls add “King Nahash of Ammon was making the people of Gad and Reuben miserable. He was poking out everyone's right eye, and no one in Israel could stop him. He had poked out the right eye of every Israelite man who lived east of the Jordan River. Only 7,000 men had escaped from the Ammonites, and they had gone into the town of Jabesh in Gilead. About a month later.” King Nahash of Ammon came with his army and surrounded the town of Jabesh in Gilead. The people who lived there told Nahash, “If you will sign a peace treaty with us, you can be our ruler, and we will pay taxes to you.”
2Nahash answered, “Sure, I'll sign a treaty! But not before I insult Israel by poking out the right eye of every man who lives in Jabesh.”
3The town leaders said, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers everywhere in Israel to ask for help. If no one comes here to save us, we will surrender to you.”
4Some of the messengers went to Gibeah, Saul's hometown. They told what was happening at Jabesh, and everyone in Gibeah started crying. 5Just then, Saul came in from the fields, walking behind his oxen.
“Why is everyone crying?” Saul asked.
They told him what the men from Jabesh had said. 6Then the Spirit of God suddenly took control of Saul and made him furious. 7Saul killed two of his oxen, cut them up in pieces, and gave the pieces to the#11.7 the: Or “some other.” messengers. He told them to show the pieces to everyone in Israel and say, “Saul and Samuel are getting an army together. Come and join them. If you don't, this is what will happen to your oxen!”
The Lord made the people of Israel terribly afraid. So all the men came together 8at Bezek. Saul had them organized and counted. There were 300,000 from Israel and 30,000#11.8 300,000 … 30,000: The Dead Sea Scrolls and some ancient translations have different numbers. from Judah.
9Saul and his officers sent the messengers back to Jabesh with this promise: “We will rescue you tomorrow afternoon.” The messengers went back to the people at Jabesh and told them that they were going to be rescued.
Everyone was encouraged! 10So they told the Ammonites, “We will surrender to you tomorrow, and then you can do whatever you want to.”
11The next day, Saul divided his army into three groups and attacked before daylight. They started killing Ammonites and kept it up until afternoon. A few Ammonites managed to escape, but they were scattered far from each other.
12The Israelite soldiers went to Samuel and demanded, “Where are the men who said they didn't want Saul to be king? Bring them to us, and we will put them to death!”
13“No you won't!” Saul told them. “The Lord rescued Israel today, and no one will be put to death.”
Saul Is Accepted as King
14“Come on!” Samuel said. “Let's go to Gilgal and make an agreement that Saul will continue to be our king.”
15Everyone went to the place of worship at Gilgal, where they agreed that Saul would be their king. Saul and the people sacrificed animals to ask for the Lord's blessing,#11.15 sacrificed … blessing: This kind of sacrifice is described in Leviticus 3; 7.11-36; 19.5-8. People who offered these sacrifices were allowed to eat most of the meat, and they could invite others to share it with them. and they had a big celebration.
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