Bible Strands
1 Samuel 11:1
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nahash the Ammonite advances against Jabesh-gilead, and the city's men propose a treaty of submission to avoid destruction.
The words — The Hebrew verbs וַ/יַּ֗עַל (wa·ya·'al) and וַ/יִּ֖חַן (wa·yi·chan) denote a military ascent followed by encampment, establishing the siege's physical reality.
The thread — The treaty request reappears in 1 Samuel 12:12 as a catalyst for Israel's demand for a king, while the covenant motif echoes in 1 Kings 20:34 and Ezekiel 17:13.
Why it lands — The verse records a desperate political surrender that forces the reader to confront the cost of failed leadership and the immediate threat of siege warfare.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh–gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 12:12 But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.
- 1 Kings 20:34 Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.
- Ezekiel 17:13 He took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land,
- Genesis 26:28 “We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you
- Judges 21:8 So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
- Exodus 23:32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
- Job 41:4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
- Deuteronomy 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- Judges 10:7 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,
- Judges 11:8 They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”