Deliverance from the Philistines

7 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord and ^(A)brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. ² From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

³ Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “^(B)If you return to the Lord with all your heart, ^(C)remove the foreign gods and the ^(D)Ashtaroth from among you and ^(E)direct your hearts to the Lord and ^(F)serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to ^(G)Mizpah and ^(H)I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and ^(I)poured it out before the Lord, and ^(J)fasted on that day and said there, “^(K)We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, ^(L)they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “^(M)Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Samuel took ^(N)a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and ^(O)the Lord answered him. ¹⁰ Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But ^(P)the Lord thundered with a great ^[a]thunder on that day against the Philistines and ^(Q)confused them, so that they were ^[b]routed before Israel. ¹¹ The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel ^(R)took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it ^[c]Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” ^13 (S)So the Philistines were subdued and ^(T)they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴ The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and ^(U)the Amorites.

Samuel’s Ministry

¹⁵ Now Samuel ^(V)judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ He used to go annually on circuit to ^(W)Bethel and ^(X)Gilgal and ^(Y)Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷ Then his return was to ^(Z)Ramah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he ^(AA)built there an altar to the Lord.

Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

The Gospel Exalted

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, ^[a](A)called as an apostle, ^(B)set apart for ^(C)the gospel of God, ² which He ^(D)promised beforehand through His ^(E)prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who was born ^(F)of a ^[b]descendant of David ^(G)according to the flesh, ⁴ who was declared ^(H)the Son of God with power ^[c]by the resurrection from the dead, according to the ^[d]Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and ^(I)apostleship ^[e]to bring about the ^(J)obedience of faith among ^(K)all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, ⁶ among whom you also are the ^(L)called of Jesus Christ;

⁷ to all who are ^(M)beloved of God in Rome, called as ^[f](N)saints: ^(O)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First, ^(P)I thank my God through Jesus Christ ^[g]for you all, because ^(Q)your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹ For ^(R)God, whom I ^(S)serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly ^(T)I make mention of you, ¹⁰ always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by ^(U)the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For ^(V)I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be ^[h]established; ¹² that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. ^13 (W)I do not want you to be unaware, ^(X)brethren, that often I ^(Y)have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some ^(Z)fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. ^14 (AA)I am ^[i]under obligation both to Greeks and to ^(AB)barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So, for my part, I am eager to ^(AC)preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ^(AD)ashamed of the gospel, for ^(AE)it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the ^(AF)Jew first and also to ^(AG)the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it ^(AH)the righteousness of God is revealed ^[j]from faith to faith; as it is written, “^[k](AI)But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Unbelief and Its Consequences

¹⁸ For ^(AJ)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ^(AK)suppress the truth ^[l]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because ^(AL)that which is known about God is evident ^[m]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For ^(AM)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^(AN)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not ^[n]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^(AO)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ^22 (AP)Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(AQ)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and ^[o]crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore ^(AR)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be ^(AS)dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for ^[p]a ^(AT)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(AU)who is blessed ^[q]forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(AV)God gave them over to ^(AW)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is ^[r]unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(AX)men with men committing ^[s]indecent acts and receiving in ^[t]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit ^[u]to acknowledge God any longer, ^(AY)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are ^(AZ)gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, ^[v](BA)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^(BB)disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, ^(BC)unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^(BD)death, they not only do the same, but also ^(BE)give hearty approval to those who practice them.