11 And 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.'

² And 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.'

³ And 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.'

⁴ And 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;

⁵ and 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.

⁶ And the Spirit of God doth prosper over Saul, in his hearing these words, and his anger burneth greatly,

⁷ and 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.

⁸ And he inspecteth them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel are three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

⁹ And 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;

¹⁰ and 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.'

¹¹ And 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.

¹² And 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.'

¹³ And Saul saith, `There is no man put to death on this day, for to-day hath Jehovah wrought salvation in Israel.'

¹⁴ And Samuel saith unto the people, `Come and we go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there;'

¹⁵ and 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.

12 And Samuel saith unto all Israel, `Lo, I have hearkened to your voice, to all that ye said to me, and I cause to reign over you a king,

² and now, lo, the king is walking habitually before you, and I have become aged and gray-headed, and my sons, lo, they [are] with you, and I have walked habitually before you from my youth till this day.

³ `Lo, here [am] I; testify against me, over-against Jehovah, and over-against His anointed; whose ox have I taken, and whose ass have I taken, and whom have I oppressed; whom have I bruised, and of whose hand have I taken a ransom, and hide mine eyes with it? -- and I restore to you.'

⁴ And they say, `Thou hast not oppressed us, nor hast thou crushed us, nor hast thou taken from the hand of any one anything.'

⁵ And he saith unto them, `A witness [is] Jehovah against you: and a witness [is] His anointed this day, that ye have not found anything in my hand;' and they say, `A witness.'

⁶ And Samuel saith unto the people, `Jehovah -- He who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought up your fathers out of the land of Egypt!

⁷ and, now, station yourselves, and I judge you before Jehovah, with all the righteous acts of Jehovah, which He did with you, and with your fathers.

⁸ `When Jacob hath come in to Egypt, and your fathers cry unto Jehovah, then Jehovah sendeth Moses and Aaron, and they bring out your fathers from Egypt, and cause them to dwell in this place,

⁹ and they forget Jehovah their God, and He selleth them into the hand of Sisera, head of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fight against them,

¹⁰ and they cry unto Jehovah, and say, We have sinned, because we have forsaken Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and now, deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we serve Thee.

¹¹ `And Jehovah sendeth Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivereth you out of the hand of your enemies round about, and ye dwell confidently.

¹² `And ye see that Nahash king of the Bene-Ammon hath come against you, and ye say to me, Nay, but a king doth reign over us; and Jehovah your God [is] your king!

¹³ And, now, lo, the king whom ye have chosen -- whom ye have asked! and lo, Jehovah hath placed over you a king.

¹⁴ `If ye fear Jehovah, and have served Him, and hearkened to His voice, then ye do not provoke the mouth of Jehovah, and ye have been -- both ye and the king who hath reigned over you -- after Jehovah your God.

¹⁵ `And if ye do not hearken to the voice of Jehovah -- then ye have provoked the mouth of Jehovah, and the hand of Jehovah hath been against you, and against your fathers.

¹⁶ `Also now, station yourselves and see this great thing which Jehovah is doing before your eyes;

¹⁷ is it not wheat-harvest to-day? I call unto Jehovah, and He doth give voices and rain; and know ye and see that your evil is great which ye have done in the eyes of Jehovah, to ask for you a king.'

¹⁸ And Samuel calleth unto Jehovah, and Jehovah giveth voices and rain, on that day, and all the people greatly fear Jehovah and Samuel;

¹⁹ and all the people say unto Samuel, `Pray for thy servants unto Jehovah thy God, and we do not die, for we have added to all our sins evil to ask for us a king.'

²⁰ And Samuel saith unto the people, `Fear not; ye have done all this evil; only, turn not aside from after Jehovah -- and ye have served Jehovah with all your heart,

²¹ and ye do not turn aside after the vain things which do not profit nor deliver, for they [are] vain,

²² for Jehovah doth not leave His people, on account of His great name; for Jehovah hath been pleased to make you to Him for a people.

²³ `I, also, far be it from me to sin against Jehovah, by ceasing to pray for you, and I have directed you in the good and upright way;

²⁴ only, fear ye Jehovah, and ye have served Him in truth with all your heart, for see that which He hath made great with you;

²⁵ and if ye really do evil, both ye and your king are consumed.'

13 A son of a year [is] Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel,

² and Saul chooseth for himself three thousand [men] out of Israel; and two thousand are with Saul in Michmash, and in the hill-country of Beth-El; and a thousand have been with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the remnant of the people he hath sent each to his tents.

³ And Jonathan smiteth the garrison of the Philistines which [is] in Geba, and the Philistines hear, and Saul hath blown with a trumpet through all the land, saying, `Let the Hebrews hear.'

⁴ And all Israel have heard, saying, `Saul hath smitten the garrison of the Philistines,' and also, `Israel hath been abhorred by the Philistines;' and the people are called after Saul to Gilgal.

⁵ And the Philistines have been gathered to fight with Israel; thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a people as the sand which [is] on the sea-shore for multitude; and they come up and encamp in Michmash, east of Beth-Aven.

⁶ And the men of Israel have seen that they are distressed, that the people hath been oppressed, and the people hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.

⁷ And Hebrews have passed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; and Saul [is] yet in Gilgal, and all the people have trembled after him.

⁸ And he waiteth seven days, according to the appointment with Samuel, and Samuel hath not come to Gilgal, and the people are scattered from off him.

⁹ And Saul saith, `Bring nigh unto me the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings;' and he causeth the burnt-offering to ascend.

¹⁰ And it cometh to pass at his completing to cause the burnt-offering to ascend, that lo, Samuel hath come, and Saul goeth out to meet him, to bless him;

¹¹ and Samuel saith, `What hast thou done?' And Saul saith, `Because I saw that the people were scattered from off me, and thou hadst not come at the appointment of the days, and the Philistines are gathered to Michmash,

¹² and I say, Now do the Philistines come down unto me to Gilgal, and the face of Jehovah I have not appeased; and I force myself, and cause the burnt-offering to ascend.'

¹³ And Samuel saith unto Saul, `Thou hast been foolish; thou hast not kept the command of Jehovah thy God, which He commanded thee, for now had Jehovah established thy kingdom over Israel unto the age;

¹⁴ and, now, thy kingdom doth not stand, Jehovah hath sought for Himself a man according to His own heart, and Jehovah chargeth him for leader over His people, for thou hast not kept that which Jehovah commanded thee.'

¹⁵ And Samuel riseth, and goeth up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin; and Saul inspecteth the people who are found with him, about six hundred men,

¹⁶ and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who are found with them, are abiding in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the Philistines have encamped in Michmash.

¹⁷ And the destroyer goeth out from the camp of the Philistines -- three detachments; the one detachment turneth unto the way of Ophrah, unto the land of Shual;

¹⁸ and the one detachment turneth the way of Beth-Horon, and the one detachment turneth the way of the border which is looking on the valley of the Zeboim, toward the wilderness.

¹⁹ And an artificer is not found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, `Lest the Hebrews make sword or spear;'

²⁰ and all Israel go down to the Philistines, to sharpen each his ploughshare, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock;

²¹ and there hath been the file for mattocks, and for coulters, and for three-pronged rakes, and for the axes, and to set up the goads.

²² And it hath been, in the day of battle, that there hath not been found sword and spear in the hand of any of the people who [are] with Saul and with Jonathan -- and there is found to Saul and to Jonathan his son.

²³ And the station of the Philistines goeth out unto the passage of Michmash.