⁷ He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by messengers, saying, ‘Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!’ Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one. ⁸ When he mustered them at Bezek, those from Israel were three hundred thousand, and those from Judah seventy^[a] thousand. ⁹ They said to the messengers who had come, ‘Thus shall you say to the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead: “Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.”’ When the messengers came and told the inhabitants of Jabesh, they rejoiced.