1 Samuel 7:3-14
Evangelical Heritage Version
Samuel Leads Israel to Victory
3 Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, put away the foreign gods and the Ashtartes[a] from among you. Direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him only. Then he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
4 So the people of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtartes and served the Lord only. 5 Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”
6 So Israel gathered together at Mizpah. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted that day, and they said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
Samuel acted as judge for the people of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered together at Mizpah, the serens of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the people of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines, 8 and the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out for us to the Lord our God, so that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb 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.
10 As Samuel was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines approached to engage in battle with Israel, but on that day the Lord thundered against the Philistines with a loud roar and threw them into a panic, so they were struck down before Israel. 11 The men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down until they arrived at a point below Beth Kar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named that place Ebenezer,[b] saying, “The Lord has helped us this far.”[c] 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they no longer came into the territory of Israel. The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel. From Ekron all the way to Gath, Israel recovered the territory of those cities from the control of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 7:3 Although they may have originally been different goddesses, Asherah and Ashtarte seem to have been blended together with the passage of time. Ashtarte is sometimes substituted for Asherah.
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help.
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Or till now
1 Samuel 7:3-14
Lexham English Bible
3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If with all your heart you are turning to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and Ashtoreths[a] from your midst. Commit your hearts to Yahweh and serve him alone. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites[b] removed the Baals[c] and the Ashtoreths, and they served Yahweh alone.
5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” 6 So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh!” So Samuel judged the Israelites[d] at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the Israelites[e] had gathered at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the Israelites[f] heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.[g] 8 Then the Israelites[h] said to Samuel, “You must not cease[i] from crying out to Yahweh our God, so that he will deliver us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a single nursing lamb[j] and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Then Samuel cried out to Yahweh on behalf of Israel, and Yahweh answered him. 10 While[k] Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near for the battle against Israel. But Yahweh thundered against the Philistines with a great noise on that day and threw them into confusion so that they were defeated before Israel. 11 Then the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and they struck them down as far as below Beth Car.
12 So Samuel took a single stone and put it between Mizpah and Shen, and he named it Ebenezer and said, “Up to here Yahweh has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come into the territory of Israel again, and the hand of Yahweh was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The towns[l] which the Philistines had taken from Israel were returned to Israel from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territories from the hand of the Philistines. Then there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 7:3 Hebrew plural “Ashtaroth” (Ashtoreth was the female consort of Ba’al)
- 1 Samuel 7:4 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Samuel 7:4 Hebrew plural “Be’alim” (Ba’al was a major Canaanite deity)
- 1 Samuel 7:6 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Samuel 7:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Samuel 7:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Samuel 7:7 Literally “and they were afraid from (= because of) the presence of the Philistines”
- 1 Samuel 7:8 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- 1 Samuel 7:8 Literally “You must not be silent from us”
- 1 Samuel 7:9 Literally “lamb of milk”
- 1 Samuel 7:10 Literally “And it happened”
- 1 Samuel 7:14 Or “cities”
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