1 Samuel 2-7

New Century Version

Hannah Gives Thanks

2 Hannah prayed:

Eli’s Evil Sons

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy continued to serve the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² Now Eli’s sons were evil men; they did not care about the Lord. ¹³ This is what the priests would normally do to the people: Every time someone brought a sacrifice, the meat would be cooked in a pot. The priest’s servant would then come carrying a fork that had three prongs. ¹⁴ He would plunge the fork into the pot or the kettle. Whatever the fork brought out of the pot belonged to the priest. But this is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come to the person offering sacrifices and say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He won’t accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat.”

¹⁶ If the one who offered the sacrifice said, “Let the fat be burned up first as usual, and then take anything you want,” the priest’s servant would answer, “No, give me the meat now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

¹⁷ The Lord saw that the sin of the servants was very great because they did not show respect for the offerings made to the Lord.

Samuel Grows Up

¹⁸ But Samuel obeyed the Lord. As a boy he wore a linen holy vest. ¹⁹ Every year Samuel’s mother made a little coat for him and took it to him when she went with her husband to Shiloh for the sacrifice. ²⁰ When Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, he would say, “May the Lord repay you with children through Hannah to take the place of the boy Hannah prayed for and gave back to the Lord.” Then Elkanah and Hannah would go home. ²¹ The Lord was kind to Hannah, so she became the mother of three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up serving the Lord.

²² Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all the Israelites and how his sons had sexual relations with the women who served at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ²³ Eli said to his sons, “Why do you do these evil things that the people tell me about? ²⁴ No, my sons. The Lord’s people are spreading a bad report about you. ²⁵ If you sin against someone, God can help you. But if you sin against the Lord himself, no one can help you!” But Eli’s sons would not listen to him, because the Lord had decided to put them to death.

²⁶ The boy Samuel grew physically. He pleased the Lord and the people.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I clearly showed myself to the family of your ancestor Aaron when they were slaves to the king of Egypt. ²⁸ I chose them from all the tribes of Israel to be my priests. I wanted them to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the holy vest. I also let the family of your ancestor have part of all the offerings sacrificed by the Israelites. ²⁹ So why don’t you respect the sacrifices and gifts? You honor your sons more than me. You grow fat on the best parts of the meat the Israelites bring to me.’

³⁰ “So the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I promised that your family and your ancestor’s family would serve me always.’ But now the Lord says: ‘This must stop! I will honor those who honor me, but I will dishonor those who ignore me. ³¹ The time is coming when I will destroy the descendants of both you and your ancestors. No man will grow old in your family. ³² You will see trouble in my house. No matter what good things happen to Israel, there will never be an old man in your family. ³³ I will not totally cut off your family from my altar. But your eyes will cry and your heart be sad, because all your descendants will die.

³⁴ “‘I will give you a sign. Both your sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day. ³⁵ I will choose a loyal priest for myself who will listen to me and do what I want. I will make his family continue, and he will always serve before my appointed king. ³⁶ Then everyone left in your family will come and bow down before him. They will beg for a little money or a little food and say, “Please give me a job as priest so I can have food to eat.”’”

God Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel served the Lord under Eli. In those days the Lord did not speak directly to people very often; there were very few visions.

² Eli’s eyes were so weak he was almost blind. One night he was lying in bed. ³ Samuel was also in bed in the Lord’s house, where the Ark of the Agreement was. God’s lamp was still burning.

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel answered, “I am here!” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “I am here. You called me.”

But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.

⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel!”

Samuel again went to Eli and said, “I am here. You called me.”

Again Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”

⁷ Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the Lord had not spoken directly to him yet.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel for the third time. Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here. You called me.”

Then Eli realized the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So he told Samuel, “Go to bed. If he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in bed.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there and called as he had before, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel said, “Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening.”

¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “Watch, I am going to do something in Israel that will shock those who hear about it. ¹² At that time I will do to Eli and his family everything I promised, from beginning to end. ¹³ I told Eli I would punish his family always, because he knew his sons were evil. They acted without honor, but he did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I swore to Eli’s family, ‘Your guilt will never be removed by sacrifice or offering.’”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision, ¹⁶ but Eli called to him, “Samuel, my son!”

Samuel answered, “I am here.”

¹⁷ Eli asked, “What did the Lord say to you? Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you terribly if you hide from me anything he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything and did not hide anything from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is best.”

¹⁹ The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up; he did not let any of Samuel’s messages fail to come true. ²⁰ Then all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,^[a] knew Samuel was a true prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord continued to show himself at Shiloh, and he showed himself to Samuel through his word.

4 So, news about Samuel spread through all of Israel.

The Philistines Capture the Ark of the Agreement

At that time the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. ² The Philistines went to meet the Israelites in battle. And as the battle spread, they defeated the Israelites, killing about four thousand soldiers on the battlefield. ³ When some Israelite soldiers went back to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us? Let’s bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord here from Shiloh and take it with us into battle. Then God will save us from our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh. They brought back the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord All-Powerful, who sits between the gold creatures with wings. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark.

⁵ When the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord came into the camp, all the Israelites gave a great shout of joy that made the ground shake. ⁶ When the Philistines heard Israel’s shout, they asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”

Then the Philistines found out that the Ark of the Lord had come into the Hebrew camp. ⁷ They were afraid and said, “A god has come into the Hebrew camp! We’re in trouble! This has never happened before! ⁸ How terrible it will be for us! Who can save us from these powerful gods? They are the ones who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of disasters in the desert. ⁹ Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men! In the past they were our slaves. So fight like men, or we will become their slaves.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, and every Israelite soldier ran away to his own home. It was a great defeat for Israel, because thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed. ¹¹ The Ark of God was taken by the Philistines, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² That same day a man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battle. He tore his clothes and put dust on his head to show his great sadness. ¹³ When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was by the side of the road. He was sitting there in a chair, watching, because he was worried about the Ark of God. When the Benjaminite entered Shiloh, he told the bad news. Then all the people in town cried loudly. ¹⁴ Eli heard the crying and asked, “What’s all this noise?”

The Benjaminite ran to Eli and told him what had happened. ¹⁵ Eli was now ninety-eight years old, and he was blind. ¹⁶ The Benjaminite told him, “I have come from the battle. I ran all the way here today.”

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The Benjaminite answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines, and the Israelite army has lost many soldiers. Your two sons are both dead, and the Philistines have taken the Ark of God.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair. He fell beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, because he was old and fat. He had led Israel for forty years.

The Glory Is Gone

¹⁹ Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and was about to give birth. When she heard the news that the Ark of God had been taken and that Eli, her father-in-law, and Phinehas, her husband, were both dead, she began to give birth to her child. The child was born, but the mother had much trouble in giving birth. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women who helped her said, “Don’t worry! You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not answer or pay attention. ²¹ She named the baby Ichabod,^[b] saying, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She said this because the Ark of God had been taken and her father-in-law and husband were dead. ²² She said, “Israel’s glory is gone, because the Ark of God has been taken away.”

Trouble for the Philistines

5 After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² They carried it into Dagon’s temple and put it next to Dagon. ³ When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, they found that Dagon had fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. So they put Dagon back in his place. ⁴ The next morning when they rose, they again found Dagon fallen on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only his body was still in one piece. ⁵ So, even today, Dagon’s priests and others who enter his temple at Ashdod refuse to step on the doorsill.

⁶ The Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He caused them to suffer and gave them growths on their skin. ⁷ When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The Ark of the God of Israel can’t stay with us. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.” ⁸ The people of Ashdod called all five Philistine kings together and asked them, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Move the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved it to Gath.

⁹ But after they moved it to Gath, there was a great panic. The Lord was hard on that city also, and he gave both old and young people in Gath growths on their skin. ¹⁰ Then the Philistines sent the Ark of God to Ekron.

But when it came into Ekron, the people of Ekron yelled, “Why are you bringing the Ark of the God of Israel to our city? Do you want to kill us and our people?” ¹¹ So they called all the kings of the Philistines together and said, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its place before it kills us and our people!” All the people in the city were struck with terror because God was so hard on them there. ¹² The people who did not die were troubled with growths on their skin. So the people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven.

The Ark of God Is Sent Home

6 The Philistines kept the Ark of God in their land seven months. ² Then they called for their priests and magicians and said, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back home!”

³ The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it back empty. You must give a penalty offering. If you are then healed, you will know that it was because of the Ark that you had such trouble.”

⁴ The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”

They answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin and five gold models of rats. The number of models must match the number of Philistine kings, because the same sickness has come on you and your kings. ⁵ Make models of the growths and the rats that are ruining the country, and give honor to Israel’s God. Then maybe he will stop being so hard on you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Don’t be stubborn like the king of Egypt and the Egyptians. After God punished them terribly, they let the Israelites leave Egypt.

⁷ “You must build a new cart and get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never had yokes on their necks. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take the calves home, away from their mothers. ⁸ Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart and the gold models for the penalty offering in a box beside the Ark. Then send the cart straight on its way. ⁹ Watch the cart. If it goes toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land, the Lord has given us this great sickness. But if it doesn’t, we will know that Israel’s God has not punished us. Our sickness just happened by chance.”

¹⁰ The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They took two cows that had just had calves and hitched them to the cart, but they kept their calves at home. ¹¹ They put the Ark of the Lord and the box with the gold rats and models of growths on the cart. ¹² Then the cows went straight toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road, mooing all the way, and did not turn right or left. The Philistine kings followed the cows as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the Ark of the Lord, they were very happy. ¹⁴ The cart came to the field belonging to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped near a large rock. The people of Beth Shemesh chopped up the wood of the cart. Then they sacrificed the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the box that had the gold models, and they put both on the large rock. That day the people of Beth Shemesh offered whole burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶ After the five Philistine kings saw this, they went back to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ The Philistines had sent these gold models of the growths as penalty offerings to the Lord. They sent one model for each Philistine town: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ And the Philistines also sent gold models of rats. The number of rats matched the number of towns belonging to the Philistine kings, including both strong, walled cities and country villages. The large rock on which they put the Ark of the Lord is still there in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹ But some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark of the Lord. So God killed seventy of them. The people of Beth Shemesh cried because the Lord had struck them down. ²⁰ They said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Whom will he strike next?”

²¹ Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it to your city.”

7 The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord to Abinadab’s house on a hill. There they made Abinadab’s son Eleazar holy for the Lord so he could guard the Ark of the Lord.

The Lord Saves the Israelites

² The Ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. And the people of Israel began to follow the Lord again. ³ Samuel spoke to the whole group of Israel, saying, “If you’re turning back to the Lord with all your hearts, you must remove your foreign gods and your idols of Ashtoreth. You must give yourselves fully to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will save you from the Philistines.”

⁴ So the Israelites put away their idols of Baal and Ashtoreth, and they served only the Lord.

⁵ Samuel said, “All Israel must meet at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ So the Israelites met together at Mizpah. They drew water from the ground and poured it out before the Lord and fasted that day. They confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel served as judge of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ The Philistines heard the Israelites were meeting at Mizpah, so the Philistine kings came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard they were coming, they were afraid. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Don’t stop praying to the Lord our God for us! Ask him to save us from the Philistines!” ⁹ Then Samuel took a baby lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He called to the Lord for Israel’s sake, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ While Samuel was burning the offering, the Philistines came near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered against them with loud thunder. They were so frightened they became confused. So the Israelites defeated the Philistines in battle. ¹¹ The men of Israel ran out of Mizpah and chased the Philistines almost to Beth Car, killing the Philistines along the way.

Peace Comes to Israel

¹² After this happened Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named the stone Ebenezer,^[c] saying, “The Lord has helped us to this point.” ¹³ So the Philistines were defeated and did not enter the Israelites’ land again.

The Lord was against the Philistines all Samuel’s life. ¹⁴ Earlier the Philistines had taken towns from the Israelites, but the Israelites won them back, from Ekron to Gath. They also took back from the Philistines the lands near these towns. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel continued as judge of Israel all his life. ¹⁶ Every year he went from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah and judged the Israelites in all these towns. ¹⁷ But Samuel always went back to Ramah, where his home was. There he judged Israel and built an altar to the Lord.