Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you."

The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven day, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you."

Behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, "What ails the people that they weep?" They told him the words of the men of Jabesh.

They said to the messengers who came, "Thus you shall tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.'" The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.

Therefore the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you."

When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul,

all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.

They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.