1 Samuel 11:1-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
Defeat of the Ammonites. 1 [a]About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All the people of Jabesh begged Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”(A) 2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “This is my condition for making a treaty with you: I will gouge out the right eye of every man,[b] and thus bring shame on all Israel.” 3 The elders of Jabesh said to him: “Give us seven days to send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If there is no one to save us, we will surrender to you.”
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- 11:1 A text from Qumran (1QSama) introduces this chapter with the report that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had attacked the Gadites and the Reubenites, gouging out their right eyes. Seven thousand of them had fled to Jabesh-gilead. This additional information would explain why Nahash besieged Jabesh-gilead. There is no consensus among scholars whether the Qumran text represents an original reading or a secondary expansion.
- 11:2 Right eye of every man: thus rendering them incapable of military action.
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