1 Samuel 11:2-11

2But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, 1that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it 2a reproach on all Israel.” 33The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you.” 4Then the messengers came 4to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people 5lifted up their voices and wept.

5Now behold, Saul was coming from the field 6behind the oxen, and 7he said, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” So they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6Then 8the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and 9he became very angry. 7He took a yoke of oxen and 10cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “11Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out 12as one man. 8He 13numbered them in 14Bezek; and the 15sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. 9They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance.’” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10Then the men of Jabesh said, “16Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good 17to you.” 11The next morning Saul put the people 18in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.