1 Samuel 11:1

Geneva Bible (1560)

Then Nahash the Ammonite came vp, and besieged Iabesh Gilead: and all the men of Iabesh saide vnto Nahash, Make a couenant with vs, and we will be thy seruants.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיַּ֗עַל נָחָשׁ֙ הָֽעַמּוֹנִ֔י וַיִּ֖חַן עַל־יָבֵ֣שׁ גִּלְעָ֑ד וַיֹּ֨אמְר֜וּ כָּל־אַנְשֵׁ֤י יָבֵישׁ֙ אֶל־נָחָ֔שׁ כְּרָת־לָ֥נוּ בְרִ֖ית וְנַעַבְדֶֽךָּ

Transliteration

And wayyaʿal nāḥāš the ʿammônî and wayyiḥan against yābēš gilʿād and wayyōʾmərû all ʾanšê yābēš to nāḥāš kərāt-lānû bərît and wənaʿabdekā

Grammar Details

• *wayyaʿal*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he went up
• *nāḥāš*: proper noun, masculine singular - Nahash
• *ʿammônî*: adjective, masculine singular - Ammonite
• *wayyiḥan*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he encamped
• *yābēš*: proper noun - Jabesh
• *gilʿād*: proper noun - Gilead
• *wayyōʾmərû*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine plural - and they said
• *ʾanšê*: construct plural of *ʾîš* - men of
• *kərāt-lānû*: Qal imperative masculine singular + preposition + 1st person plural suffix - cut for us
• *bərît*: noun, feminine singular - covenant
• *wənaʿabdekā*: waw conjunction + Qal imperfect 1st person plural + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - and we will serve you

Word Meanings

• *nāḥāš*: Nahash (name meaning 'serpent')
• *yābēš gilʿād*: Jabesh-Gilead (city name)
• *bərît*: covenant/agreement/treaty
• *naʿabdekā*: serve you/be your subjects/be subservient to you

Referenced Verses

• Judg 21:8 : 8 Also they saide, Is there any of the tribes of Israel that came not vp to Mizpeh to the Lord? and beholde, there came none of Iabesh Gilead vnto the hoste and to the Congregation.
• 1 Sam 12:12 : 12 Notwithstanding when you sawe, that Nahash the King of the children of Ammon came against you, ye sayde vnto me, No, but a King shall reigne ouer vs: when yet the Lord your God was your King.
• 1 Kgs 20:34 : 34 And Ben-hadad sayd vnto him, The cities, which my father tooke from thy father, I wil restore, & thou shalt make streetes for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will let thee goe with this couenant. So he made a couenant with him, and let him goe.
• Ezek 17:13 : 13 And hath taken one of the Kings seede, and made a couenant with him, & hath taken an othe of him: he hath also taken the princes of the land,
• Gen 26:28 : 28 Who answered, Wee sawe certainely that the Lorde was with thee, and wee thought thus, Let there be nowe an othe betweene vs, euen betweene vs and thee, and let vs make a couenant with thee.
• Exod 23:32 : 32 Thou shalt make no couenant with them, nor with their gods:
• Job 41:4 : 4 (40:23) Will hee make a couenant with thee? and wilt thou take him as a seruant for euer?
• Isa 36:16 : 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus sayth the King of Asshur, Make appointment with me, and come out to me, that euery man may eate of his owne vine, & euery man of his owne fig tree, and drinke euery man the water of his owne well,
• Deut 23:3 : 3 The Ammonites and the Moabites shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord: euen to their tenth generation shal they not enter into the Congregation of the Lord for euer,
• Judg 10:7 : 7 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he solde them into the hands of the Philistims, and into the handes of the children of Ammon:
• Judg 11:8-9 : 8 Then the Elders of Gilead saide vnto Iphtah, Therefore we turne againe to thee now, that thou mayest goe with vs, and fight against the children of Ammon, and bee our head ouer all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9 And Iphtah said vnto the Elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home againe to fight against the children of Ammon, if the Lord giue them before me, shall I be your head? 10 And the Elders of Gilead saide to Iphtah, The Lorde be witnesse betweene vs, if we doe not according to thy wordes. 11 Then Iphtah went with the Elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captaine ouer them: and Iphtah rehearsed all his wordes before the Lorde in Mizpeh. 12 Then Iphtah sent messengers vnto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to doe with me, that thou art come against me, to fight in my lande? 13 And the King of the children of Ammon answered vnto the messengers of Iphtah, Because Israel tooke my lande, when they came vp from Egypt, fro Arnon vnto Iabbok, & vnto Iorden: now therefore restore those lands quietly. 14 Yet Iphtah sent messengers againe vnto the King of the children of Ammon, 15 And said vnto him, Thus saith Iphtah, Israel tooke not the lande of Moab, nor the lande of the children of Ammon. 16 But when Israel came vp from Egypt, and walked through the wildernesse vnto the redde Sea, then they came to Kadesh. 17 And Israel sent messengers vnto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, goe thorowe thy lande: but the King of Edom woulde not consent: and also they sent vnto the King of Moab, but he would not: therefore Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went through the wildernesse, and compassed the lande of Edom, and the lande of Moab, and came by the Eastside of the lande of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, and came not within the coast of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Also Israel sent messengers vnto Sihon, King of the Amorites, the King of Heshbon, and Israel said vnto him, Let vs passe, we pray thee, by thy lande vnto our place. 20 But Sihon consented not to Israel, that he shoulde goe through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Iahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 And the Lorde God of Israel gaue Sihon and all his folke into the handes of Israel, & they smote them: so Israel possessed all the lande of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that countrey: 22 And they possessed all the coast of the Amorites, from Arnon vnto Iabbok, and from the wildernesse euen vnto Iorden. 23 Nowe therefore the Lorde God of Israel hath cast out the Amorites before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possesse it? 24 Wouldest not thou possesse that which Chemosh thy god giueth thee to possesse? So whomesoeuer the Lorde our God driueth out before vs, them will we possesse. 25 And art thou nowe farre better then Balak the sonne of Zippor King of Moab? did he not striue with Israel and fight against them, 26 When Israel dwelt in Heshbon and in her townes, and in Aroer and in her townes, and in all the cities that are by the coastes of Arnon, three hundreth yeeres? why did ye not then recouer them in that space? 27 Wherefore, I haue not offended thee: but thou doest me wrong to warre against me. The Lord the Iudge be iudge this day betweene the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon. 28 Howbeit the King of the children of Ammon hearkened not vnto the wordes of Iphtah, which he had sent him. 29 Then the Spirite of the Lorde came vpon Iphtah, and he passed ouer to Gilead and to Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh in Gilead, and from Mizpeh in Gilead he went vnto the children of Ammon. 30 And Iphtah vowed a vowe vnto the Lorde, and said, If thou shalt deliuer the children of Ammon into mine handes, 31 Then that thing that commeth out of the doores of mine house to meete me, when I come home in peace from the children of Ammon, shall be the Lordes, and I will offer it for a burnt offering. 32 And so Iphtah went vnto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord deliuered them into his handes. 33 And he smote them from Aroer euen till thou come to Minnith, twentie cities, and so foorth to Abel of the vineyardes, with an exceeding great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children of Israel.
• 1 Sam 31:11-13 : 11 When the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead heard, what the Philistims had done to Saul, 12 Then they arose (as many as were strong men) and went all night, and tooke the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sonnes, from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Iabesh, and burnt them there, 13 And tooke their bones and buried them vnder a tree at Iabesh, and fasted seuen dayes.
• Judg 21:10-25 : 10 Therefore the Congregation sent thither twelue thousande men of the most valiant, and commaunded them, saying, Goe, and smite the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, both women, and children. 11 And this is it that ye shall do: ye shall vtterly destroye all the males and all the women that haue lien by men. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead foure hundreth maides, virgins that had knowne no man by lying with any male: and they brought them vnto the hoste to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 Then the whole Congregation sent and spake with the children of Beniamin that were in the rocke of Rimmon, and called peaceably vnto them: 14 And Beniamin came againe at that time, and they gaue them wiues which they had saued aliue of the women of Iabesh Gilead: but they had not so ynough for them. 15 And the people were sorie for Beniamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16 Therefore the Elders of the Congregation said, How shall we doe for wiues to the remnant? for the women of Beniamin are destroyed. 17 And they saide, there must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Beniamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18 Howbeit we may not giue them wiues of our daughters: for the childre of Israel had sworne, saying, Cursed be he that giueth a wise to Beniamin. 19 Therefore they said, Beholde, there is a feast of the Lord euery yere in Shiloh in a place, which is on the Northside of Beth-el, and on the Eastside of the way that goeth vp from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the South of Lebonah. 20 Therefore they commaunded the children of Beniamin, saying, Goe, and lye in waite in the vineyardes. 21 And when ye see that the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catche you euery man a wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and goe into the land of Beniamin. 22 And when their fathers or their brethren come vnto vs to complaine, we wil say vnto them, Haue pitie on them for our sakes, because we reserued not to eche man his wife in the warre, and because ye haue not giuen vnto them hitherto, ye haue sinned. 23 And the children of Beniamin did so, and tooke wiues of them that danced according to their nomber: which they tooke, and went away, and returned to their inheritance, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them. 24 So the children of Israel departed thence at that time, euery man to his tribe, and to his familie, and went out from thence euery man to his inheritance. 25 In those dayes there was no King in Israel, but euery man did that which was good in his eyes.