² And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring ^(A)reproach on all Israel.”

³ Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Hold off for seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then, if there is no one to ^[a]save us, we will come out to you.”

⁴ So the messengers came ^(B)to Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people. And ^(C)all the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ Now there was Saul, coming behind the herd from the field; and Saul said, “What troubles the people, that they weep?” And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ^6 (D)Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. ⁷ So he took a yoke of oxen and ^(E)cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, ^(F)“Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen.”

And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out ^[b]with one consent. ⁸ When he numbered them in ^(G)Bezek, the children ^(H)of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹ And they said to the messengers who came, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.’ ” Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.