¹⁷ Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel and built there an altar to the Lord.^(A)

¹⁹ They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.^(A)

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah^(A)

Samuel’s Birth and Dedication

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite^[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.^(A)

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down;^{(A) 31} Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;^{(B) 32} with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.^{(C) 33} Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”^{(D) 34} Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time, ³⁵ so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.^(E)

David Joins Samuel in Ramah

¹⁸ Now David fled and escaped; he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and settled at Naioth.^{(A) 19} Saul was told, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ Then Saul sent messengers to take David. When they saw the company of the prophets in a frenzy, with Samuel standing in charge of^[a] them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy.^{(B) 21} When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also fell into a frenzy. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also fell into a frenzy. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah. He came to the great well that is in Secu; he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.” ²³ He went there, toward Naioth in Ramah, and the spirit of God came upon him. As he was going, he fell into a prophetic frenzy, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.^(C)

¹⁵ So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.^(A)

⁴ On the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being.^{(A) 5} Then the Israelites said, “Who out of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For a solemn oath had been taken concerning whoever did not come up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, “That one shall be put to death.”

⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.^(A)

²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[a]