⁷ So he took a yoke of oxen and ^(A)cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, ^(B)“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 ^[a]with one consent. ⁸ When he numbered them in ^(C)Bezek, the children ^(D)of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.”