1After about a month, Nahash the Ammonite came up and camped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you." 2And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that all your right eyes are put out; and I will make it a disgrace on all Israel." 3The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you." 4Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5Look, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, "What ails the people that they weep?" They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6The Spirit of God came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger was kindled greatly. 7He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, "Whoever doesn't come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen." The dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8He numbered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9And he said to the messengers who came, "Thus you shall tell the men of Jabesh, 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.'" The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10Therefore the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you." 11It was so on the next day, that 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: and it happened, that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

12And the people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said Saul should not reign over us? Bring those men so we may put them to death." 13Saul said, "There shall not a man be put to death this day; for today the LORD has worked deliverance in Israel."

14Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there." 15All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.