The Prophetic Call to Samuel

3 Now ^(A)the boy Samuel was attending to the service of the Lord before Eli. And ^(B)word from the Lord was rare in those days; ^[a]visions were infrequent.

² But it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now ^(C)his eyesight had begun to be ^[b]poor and he could not see well), ³ and ^(D)the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, ⁴ that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, “^(E)Here I am.” ⁵ Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ And the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son, go back and lie down.” ^7 (F)Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. ⁸ So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Then the Lord came and stood, and called as at the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, ^(G)I am going to do a thing in Israel, and both ears of everyone who hears about it will ring. ¹² On that day ^(H)I will carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken in regard to his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For ^(I)I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever for ^(J)the wrongdoing that he knew, because ^(K)his sons were bringing a curse on themselves and ^(L)he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that ^(M)the wrongdoing of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he ^(N)opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell ^(O)the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ He said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. ^(P)May God do the same to you, and more so, if you hide a single word from me of all the words that He spoke to you!” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him ^[c]everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “^(Q)He is the Lord; let Him do ^[d]what seems good to Him.”

¹⁹ Now ^(R)Samuel grew, and ^(S)the Lord was with him, and He ^(T)let none of his words ^[e]fail. ²⁰ And all Israel ^(U)from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And ^(V)the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, ^(W)because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

Philistines Take the Ark in Victory

4 So the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle, and they camped beside ^(X)Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped in ^(Y)Aphek. ² Then the Philistines drew up in battle formation to meet Israel. When the battle ^[f]spread, Israel was ^[g]defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³ When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “^(Z)Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? ^(AA)Let’s take the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” ⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of armies ^(AB)who is enthroned above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord was coming into the camp, ^(AC)all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. ⁶ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. ⁷ So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “^(AD)Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will save us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ^9 (AE)Take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, ^(AF)as they have been slaves to you; so be men and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought and ^(AG)Israel was defeated, and ^(AH)every man fled to his tent; and the defeat was very great, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. ¹¹ Moreover, the ark of God was taken; and ^(AI)the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with ^(AJ)his clothes torn, and ^[h]dust on his head. ¹³ When he came, behold, ^(AK)Eli was sitting on his seat ^[i]by the road keeping watch, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God. And the man came to give a report in the city, and all the city cried out. ¹⁴ When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the noise of this commotion mean?” Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and ^(AL)his eyes were ^[j]fixed and he could not see. ¹⁶ The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.” And he said, “^(AM)How are things, my son?” ¹⁷ Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are also dead; and the ark of God has been taken.” ¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, ^[k](AN)Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for ^[l]he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years.

¹⁹ Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, because her pains came upon her. ²⁰ And about the time of her death the women who were standing by her said to her, “^(AO)Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. ²¹ And she named the boy ^[m]Ichabod, saying, “^(AP)The glory has departed from Israel,” because ^(AQ)the ark of God had been taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² So she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been taken.”

Capture of the Ark Provokes God

5 Now the Philistines took the ark of God and ^(AR)brought it from Ebenezer to ^(AS)Ashdod. ² Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into ^(AT)the house of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon. ³ When the Ashdodites got up early the next day, behold, ^(AU)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and ^(AV)set him back in his place. ⁴ But when they got up early the next morning, behold, ^(AW)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; ^[n]only the torso of Dagon was left. ⁵ For that reason neither the priests of Dagon nor any who enter Dagon’s house ^(AX)step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶ Now ^(AY)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^(AZ)He made them feel devastated and struck them with ^(BA)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, because His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent word and ^(BB)gathered all the governors of the Philistines to them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Have the ark of the God of Israel ^[o]brought to Gath.” So they took the ark of the God of Israel away. ⁹ After they had taken it away, ^(BC)the hand of the Lord was against the city, creating a very great panic; and He struck the people of the city, from the young to the old, so that ^(BD)tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to ^[p]us, to kill ^[q]us and ^[r]our people!” ¹¹ Therefore they ^(BE)sent word and gathered all the governors of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill ^[s]us and ^[t]our people!” For there was a deadly panic throughout the city; ^(BF)the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² And the people who did not die were struck with tumors, and ^(BG)the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

Choosing of the Seven

6 Now ^[a]at this time, as the ^(A)disciples were ^(B)increasing in number, a complaint developed on the part of the ^[b](C)Hellenistic Jews against the native ^(D)Hebrews, because their ^(E)widows were being overlooked in ^(F)the daily serving of food. ² So the twelve summoned the ^[c]congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. ³ Instead, ^(G)brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, ^(H)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. ⁴ But we will ^(I)devote ourselves to prayer and to the ^[d]ministry of the word.” ⁵ The ^[e]announcement found approval with the whole ^[f]congregation; and they chose ^(J)Stephen, a man ^(K)full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and ^(L)Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and ^[g]Nicolas, a ^[h](M)proselyte from ^(N)Antioch. ⁶ And they brought these men before the apostles; and after ^(O)praying, they ^(P)laid their hands on them.

^7 (Q)The word of God kept spreading; and ^(R)the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to ^(S)the faith.

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great ^(T)wonders and ^[i]signs among the people. ⁹ But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both ^(U)Cyrenians and ^(V)Alexandrians, and some from ^(W)Cilicia and ^[j](X)Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they were unable to ^[k]cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they ^(Y)came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him ^[l]before ^(Z)the ^[m]Council. ¹³ They put forward ^(AA)false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop ^[n]speaking against this ^(AB)holy place and the Law; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that ^(AC)this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change ^(AD)the customs which Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵ And all who were sitting in the ^[o](AE)Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.