The Return of the Ark

6 When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months, ² the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners^(A) and pleaded, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we can send it back to its place.”

³ They replied, “If you send the ark of Israel’s God away, do not send it without an offering.^(B) Send back a guilt offering to him,^(C) and you will be healed. Then the reason his hand hasn’t been removed from you will be revealed.”^[a]

⁴ They asked, “What guilt offering should we send back to him?”

And they answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice^(D) corresponding to the number of Philistine rulers,^(E) since there was one plague for both you^[b] and your rulers. ⁵ Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God,^(F) and perhaps he will stop oppressing you,^[c](G) your gods, and your land.^{(H) 6} Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs?^(I) When he afflicted them, didn’t they send Israel away, and Israel left?^(J)

⁷ “Now then, prepare one new cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked.^(K) Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. ⁸ Take the ark of the Lord, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you’re sending him as a guilt offering in a box^(L) beside the ark.^(M) Send it off and let it go its way. ⁹ Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh,^(N) it is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn’t, we will know that it was not his hand that punished^(O) us—it was just something that happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen. ¹¹ Then they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh.^(P) They stayed on that one highway,^(Q) lowing as they went; they never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth-shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people of the city chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.^{(R) 15} The Levites^(S) removed the ark of the Lord, along with the box containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. That day the people of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five Philistine rulers^(T) observed this, they returned to Ekron that same day.

¹⁷ As a guilt offering to the Lord, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city:^(U) Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ The number of gold mice also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities of the five rulers, the fortified cities and the outlying villages.^(V) The large rock^[d](W) on which the ark of the Lord was placed is still in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh today.

¹⁹ God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord.^[e](X) He struck down seventy persons.^[f] The people mourned because the Lord struck them with a great slaughter. ²⁰ The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God?^(Y) To whom should the ark go from here?”

²¹ They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim,^(Z) saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and get it.”^[g]

7 So the people of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the Lord and took it to Abinadab’s house on the hill.^(AA) They consecrated his son Eleazar to take care of it.

Victory at Mizpah

² Time went by until twenty years had passed since the ark had been taken to Kiriath-jearim. Then the whole house of Israel longed for the Lord. ³ Samuel told them, “If you^(AB) are returning to the Lord^(AC) with all your heart,^(AD) get rid of the foreign gods^(AE) and the Ashtoreths that are among you, set your hearts on the Lord, and worship only him.^(AF) Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths^(AG) and only worshiped the Lord.

⁵ Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah,^(AH) and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.”^{(AI) 6} When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the Lord’s presence.^(AJ) They fasted that day,^(AK) and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”^(AL) And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers marched up toward Israel. When the Israelites heard about it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. ⁸ The Israelites said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, so that he will save us from the Philistines.”

⁹ Then Samuel took a young lamb^(AM) and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him.^{(AN) 10} Samuel was offering the burnt offering as the Philistines approached to fight against Israel. The Lord thundered loudly^(AO) against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.^{(AP) 11} Then the men of Israel charged out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines striking them down all the way to a place below Beth-car.

¹² Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright^(AQ) between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,^[h] explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point.” ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued^(AR) and^[i] did not invade Israel’s territory again.^(AS) The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all of Samuel’s life. ¹⁴ The cities from Ekron to Gath, which they had taken from Israel, were restored; Israel even rescued their surrounding territories from Philistine control. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel judged Israel throughout his life.^{(AT) 16} Every year he would go on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and would judge Israel at all these locations. ¹⁷ Then he would return to Ramah^(AU) because his home was there, he judged Israel there, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

Israel’s Demand for a King

8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.^{(AV) 2} His firstborn son’s name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba.^{(AW) 3} However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest profit, took bribes, and perverted justice.^(AX)

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah.^{(AY) 5} They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”^(AZ)

⁶ When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king.^{(BA) 8} They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me,^[j] since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. ⁹ Listen to them, but solemnly warn them^(BB) and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”

¹⁰ Samuel told all the Lord’s words to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. ¹² He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties,^(BC) to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. ¹⁴ He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants.^{(BD) 15} He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. ¹⁶ He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle,^[k] and your donkeys and use them for his work. ¹⁷ He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves,^(BE) but the Lord won’t answer you on that day.”^(BF)

¹⁹ The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. ²⁰ Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us,^(BG) and fight our battles.”

²¹ Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the Lord. ²² “Listen to them,” the Lord told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.”^(BH)

Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”

Stephen’s Sermon

7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.

² “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,^{(A) 3} and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.^[a](B)

⁴ “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.^{(C) 5} He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,^(D) even though he was childless. ⁶ God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years. ⁷ I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.^{[b](E) 8} And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised^(F) him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(G)

The Patriarchs in Egypt

⁹ “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him^{(H) 10} and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.^{(I) 11} Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,^(J) and our ancestors could find no food. ¹² When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. ¹³ The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,^{(K) 15} and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,^{(L) 16} were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.^(M)

Moses, a Rejected Savior

¹⁷ “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt^{(N) 18} until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.^{[c] 19} He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.^{(O) 20} At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. ²¹ When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.^{(P) 22} So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.^(Q)

²³ “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ ^(R)

²⁷ “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?^[d](S)

²⁹ “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.^{(T) 30} After forty years had passed, an angel^[e] appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: ³² I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.^[f](U) Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

³³ “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.^[g](V)

³⁵ “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?^[h]—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.^{(W) 36} This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,^(X) at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.^(Y)

Israel’s Rebellion against God

³⁷ “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God^[i] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.^{[j](Z) 38} He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors.^(AA) He received living oracles to give to us.^{(AB) 39} Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(AC) 40} They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.^{[k](AD) 41} They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.^{(AE) 42} God turned away^(AF) and gave them up to worship^(AG) the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

God’s Real Tabernacle

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.^{(AI) 45} Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,^(AJ) until the days of David. ⁴⁶ He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God^[m] of Jacob.^{(AK) 47} It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,^{(AL) 48} but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:^(AM)

Resisting the Holy Spirit

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked^(AO) people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!^(AP) You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?^(AQ) They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers^(AR) you have now become. ⁵³ You received the law under the direction of angels^(AS) and yet have not kept it.”

The First Christian Martyr

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were enraged^[o] and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(AT) 56} He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ^(AU)

⁵⁷ They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city and began to stone^(AV) him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(AW) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ^{(AX) 60} He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,^(AY) “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.^(AZ)