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 you."
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 reproach on all Israel."
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 save us, we will come out to you."
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.
So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent [them] throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, "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 with one consent.
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.
So it was, 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 killed Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it happened that those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.