1 Samuel 11:3-5

Amplified Bible

³The elders of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Give us seven days so that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out [and surrender] to you.” ⁴^[a]Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news to the people; and all the people raised their voices and wept aloud.

⁵Now Saul was coming out of the field behind the oxen, and he said, “What is the matter with the people that they are weeping?” So they told him about the report of the men of Jabesh.

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Footnotes

1 Samuel 11:4 Nahash granted the request, even though the Israelites’ offer to submit to slavery (v 1) clearly indicated that they were in essence already defeated. Nahash undoubtedly believed that there was no formidable person to save Israel, and he wanted to see them willingly submit to the painful and debilitating mutilation that he had planned for them.