¹ Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.

² And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.

³ And the elders of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days respit, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel: and then, if there is no man to save us, we will come out to thee.

⁴ Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people; and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.

⁵ And behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.

⁶ And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.

⁷ And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.

⁸ And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

⁹ And they said to the messengers that came, thus shall ye say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, To-morrow by the time the sun is hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.

¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To-morrow we will come out to you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good to you.

¹¹ And it was so on the morrow, that Saul disposed the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning-watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they who remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.

¹² And the people said to Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.

¹³ And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day: for to-day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.

¹⁴ Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.

¹⁵ And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal: and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

¹ Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.

² And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly;

³ And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?

⁴ And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings.

⁵ And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation to the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

⁶ And the children of Israel repented for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.

⁷ How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD, that we will not give them of our daughters for wives?

⁸ And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? and behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

⁹ For the people were numbered, and behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.

¹⁰ And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.

¹¹ And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

¹² And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably to them.

¹⁴ And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.

¹⁵ And the people repented for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

¹⁷ And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that have escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

¹⁸ But, we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.

¹⁹ Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

²⁰ Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go, and lie in wait in the vineyards;

²¹ And see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

²² And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to us to complain, that we will say to them, Be favorable to them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give to them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

²³ And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them.

²⁴ And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went from thence every man to his inheritance.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.