1 Samuel 11:1

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh Nahash the Ammonite marched against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash,“Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

📖 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 So they asked,“Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.
• 1 Sam 12:12 : 12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me,‘No! A king will rule over us’– even though the LORD your God is your king!
• 1 Kgs 20:34 : 34 Ben Hadad said,“I will return the cities my father took from your father. You may set up markets in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab then said,“I want to make a treaty with you before I dismiss you.” So he made a treaty with him and then dismissed him.
• Ezek 17:13 : 13 He took one from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. He then took the leaders of the land
• Gen 26:28 : 28 They replied,“We could plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us– between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you
• Exod 23:32 : 32 “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.
• Job 41:4 : 4 Will it make a pact with you, so you could take it as your slave for life?
• Isa 36:16 : 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says,‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
• Deut 23:3 : 3 An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the LORD; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so,
• Judg 10:7 : 7 The LORD was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites.
• Judg 11:8-9 : 8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah,“That may be true, but now we pledge to you our loyalty. Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader of all who live in Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead,“All right! If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, I will be your leader.” 10 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah,“The LORD will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement before the LORD in Mizpah. 12 Jephthah Gives a History Lesson Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying,“Why have you come against me to attack my land?” 13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers,“Because Israel stole my land when they came up from Egypt– from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. Now return it peaceably!” 14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 and said to him,“This is what Jephthah says,‘Israel did not steal the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites. 16 When they left Egypt, Israel traveled through the desert as far as the Red Sea and then came to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying,“Please allow us to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. 18 Then Israel went through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; they did not go through Moabite territory(the Arnon was Moab’s border). 19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him,“Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He assembled his whole army, camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 The LORD God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. 22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west. 23 Since the LORD God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? 24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the LORD our God has driven out before us. 25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? 26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time? 27 I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the LORD, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’” 28 But the Ammonite king disregarded the message sent by Jephthah. 29 A Foolish Vow Spells Death for a Daughter The LORD’s Spirit empowered Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying,“If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites– he will belong to the LORD and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.” 32 Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the LORD handed them over to him. 33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith– twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites.
• 1 Sam 31:11-13 : 11 When the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul’s corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. 13 They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.
• Judg 21:10-25 : 10 So the assembly sent 12,000 capable warriors against Jabesh Gilead. They commanded them,“Go and kill with your swords the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, including the women and little children. 11 Do this: exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has experienced a man’s bed. But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. 12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young girls who were virgins who had never been intimate with a man in bed. They brought them back to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. 13 The entire assembly sent messengers to the Benjaminites at the cliff of Rimmon and assured them they would not be harmed. 14 The Benjaminites returned at that time, and the Israelites gave to them the women they had spared from Jabesh Gilead. But there were not enough to go around. 15 The people regretted what had happened to Benjamin because the LORD had weakened the Israelite tribes. 16 The leaders of the assembly said,“How can we find wives for those who are left? After all, the Benjaminite women have been wiped out. 17 The remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. 18 But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying,‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ 19 However, there is an annual festival to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel(east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem) and south of Lebonah.” 20 So they commanded the Benjaminites,“Go hide in the vineyards, 21 and keep your eyes open. When you see the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us, we’ll say to them,“Do us a favor and let them be, for we could not get each one a wife through battle. Don’t worry about breaking your oath! You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.’” 23 The Benjaminites did as instructed. They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. They went home to their own territory, rebuilt their cities, and settled down. 24 Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. 25 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.