Shmuel Alef 11

Orthodox Jewish Bible

11 Then Nachash the Ammoni came up, and laid siege to Yavesh Gil’ad; and all the anashim of Yavesh said unto Nachash, Make a brit with us, and we will serve thee.

² And Nachash the Ammoni answered them, On this condition will I cut a brit with you, that I may gouge out all your ayin yamin (right eyes), and so bring cherpah upon kol Yisroel.

³ And the Zekenim of Yavesh said unto him, Give us shivat yamim that we may send malachim unto all the territory of Yisroel; and then, if there be no moshi’a to save us, we will come out and surrender to thee.

⁴ Then came the malachim to Giveat Sha’ul, and told the devarim in the oznayim of HaAm; and kol HaAm lifted up their kol (voices), and wept.

⁵ And, hinei, Sha’ul came after the bakar out of the sadeh; and Sha’ul said, What aileth HaAm that they weep? And they told him the divrei anshei Yavesh.

⁶ And the Ruach Elohim came upon Sha’ul when he heard those devarim, and his anger was kindled greatly.

⁷ And he took a tzemed bakar, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Yisroel by the hands of malachim, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Sha’ul and after Shmuel, so shall it be done unto his bakar. And the pachad Hashem fell on HaAm, and they came out as ish echad.

⁸ And when he mustered them at Bezek, the Bnei Yisroel were three hundred elef, and the Ish Yehudah thirty elef.

⁹ And they said unto the malachim that came, Thus shall ye say unto the Ish Yavesh Gil’ad, Tomorrow, by the time the shemesh is hot, teshuah will come to you. So the malachim came and reported it to the anshei Yavesh; and they had simchah.

¹⁰ Therefore the anshei Yavesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to surrender unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth tov in your eyes.

¹¹ And it was so on the next day, that Sha’ul set HaAm into shloshah rashim (three companies); and they came into the midst of the machaneh in the ashmoret haboker (morning watch), and slaughtered Ammon until the chom (heat) of the yom; and it came to pass, that they which survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

¹² HaAm said unto Shmuel, Who is he that said, Shall Sha’ul reign as melech over us? Bring the anashim, that we may put them to death.

¹³ And Sha’ul said, There shall not an ish be put to death this day; for today Hashem hath wrought Teshuah (Salvation) in Yisroel.

¹⁴ Then said Shmuel to HaAm, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the Meluchah (kingdom) there.

¹⁵ And kol HaAm went to Gilgal; and there they made Sha’ul Melech before Hashem in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed zevakhim of shelamim before Hashem; and there Sha’ul and kol Anshei Yisroel rejoiced with simchah me’od.