Delilah Betrays Samson

16 Once Samson went to Gaza and eyed a prostitute there, so he went to her. ² The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” So they surrounded him, lay in ambush for him all night at the gate of the city, and kept quiet all night saying, “When morning light comes, then we kill him.” ³ But Samson lay in bed till midnight, got up at midnight, grabbed the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts and pulled them up bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is near Hebron.

⁴ It came about afterward that he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ So the Philistine lords came up to her and said to her, “Coax him, see where his great strength comes from and by what we may overpower him, so we may bind him to subdue him—then we’ll each of us give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me please, where does your great strength come from? How could you be bound to subdue you?”

⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have never been dried, then I would be weak and be like any other man.” ⁸ So the Philistine lords brought up to her seven fresh cords that had never been dried, and she bound him with them, ⁹ while an ambush was waiting in an inner room.

“The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” she said to him. But he broke the cords just as a strand of straw snaps when it touches fire. So his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, “Oh, you deceived me! You lied to me! Now tell me please, how you can be bound?”

¹¹ He told her, “If they only bind me with new ropes never used for work, then I will be weak and be like any other man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Yet while the ambush was waiting in the inner room, he snapped them from his arms like a thread.

¹³ So Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you’ve mocked me and told me lies! Tell me how you can be bound!”

He told her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web of a loom.” ¹⁴ So she pinned it with a pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin of the loom and the web.

¹⁵ “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she said to him, “when your heart is not with me? This is three times you’ve deceived me and not told me where your great strength comes from.”

¹⁶ Now it came about when she nagged him daily with her speeches and kept bothering him, his soul was annoyed to death. ¹⁷ So he divulged to her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever been upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will be weak and be like any other man.”

¹⁸ Now when Delilah realized that he had confided to her all his heart, she sent and called for the Philistine lords saying, “Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart.” So the Philistine lords came up to her and brought the silver in their hand. ¹⁹ Then she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man and had the seven locks of his head shaved off. She even began to humiliate him while his strength departed from him. ²⁰ Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I’ll go out as at other times, and shake myself off.” He did not comprehend that Adonai had departed from him.

²¹ Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

Samson Avenged

²³ Now the Philistine lords gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, as they said, “Our god has given our enemy Samson into our hand.”

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god, as they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us.”

²⁵ Now it came about when their hearts were merry that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he did make them laugh, when they made him stand between the pillars.

²⁶ Then Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the temple rests, so I may lean on them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was full of men and women. All the Philistine lords were there and about 3,000 men and women on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.

²⁸ Then Samson called out to Adonai and said, “My Lord Adonai, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, so that I may this once take revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the temple rested and leaned on them, one with his right hand and the other with his left. ³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bent with all his might so that the temple fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his life.

³¹ Then his kinsmen and all his father’s household came down, lifted him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. For he had judged Israel 20 years.

Micah’s Idols

17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, which you also repeated it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son of Adonai.” ³ And he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to Adonai for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore. I will return it to you.” ⁴ So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made it into a graven image and a molten image; and they were kept in the house of Micah. ⁵ Now the man Micah had a shrine of gods, and he made an ephod and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons to become his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. ⁷ Now there was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah—of the clan of Judah—who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸ Then the man departed from the town, from Bethlehem of Judah, to sojourn wherever he could find a place; and as he journeyed he arrived to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he replied to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am travelling to stay wherever I may find a place.” ¹⁰ So Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of apparel, and your provision.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ And the Levite was content to stay with the man, and the young man became to him as one of his sons. ¹² So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that Adonai will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.”

The Danites Seek a New Home

18 In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of Dan was seeking an inheritance for itself to settle in, for to that day no territory had fallen to them for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. ² So the children of Dan sent five men from their clan, out of their entire population, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it, and said to them, “Go, explore the land.”

When they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. So they turned aside there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴ He said to them, “Thus and thus Micah did for me—he hired me and I became his priest.”

⁵ “Please inquire of God,” they said to him, “so we may know whether our way that we are going will be successful.”

⁶ “Go in peace,” the priest said to them. “The way that you are going has Adonai’s approval.”

⁷ Then the five men left and came to Laish, and saw the people there living securely, like the Zidonians, tranquil and unsuspecting. For there was no humiliation or anything oppressive in the land. Moreover, they were distant from the Zidonians and had no dealings with anybody.

⁸ When they came back to their kinsmen at Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, “What do you say?”

⁹ “Arise, let’s go up against them!” they said. “For we have seen the land—see, it’s very good. Yet you’re sitting still! Don’t be sluggish! Go enter, possess the land! ¹⁰ When you get there, you will come to unsuspecting people. The land is spacious. For God has put it in your hand—a place where there is no lack of anything on the earth.”

¹¹ So from the Danite clan from Zorah and Eshtaol, 600 men set out, armed with weapons of war. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh-Dan to this day—behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

¹⁴ Then the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you have to do.”

¹⁵ So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s house, and asked him about his welfare. ¹⁶ Now the 600 men of the children of Dan, armed with their weapons of war, were standing by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who had gone to spy out the land went up and entered there. They took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and the molten image, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ Now after these had gone into Micah’s house and taken the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ “Be quiet!” they said to him. “Put your hand on your mouth and go with us and be to us a father and a priest! Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man or to be priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?” ²⁰ So the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the household idols and the carved image, and went along among the people.

²¹ So they turned and set off, and placed the little ones and the cattle and the goods in front of them. ²² When they were at a good distance from Micah’s house, the men that were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered and caught up with the children of Dan. ²³ They called out to the children of Dan, who turned their faces around and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you have called them out?”

²⁴ “You have taken away my gods which I made,” he said, “and the priest, and walked away! What do I have left? And how then do you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

²⁵ But the children of Dan said to him, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest bitter fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” ²⁶ Then the children of Dan went on their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷ Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a tranquil and unsuspecting people, and struck them with the edge of the sword, and they burned the town with fire. ²⁸ There was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in the valley near Beth-rehob.

Then they rebuilt the town and lived in it. ²⁹ So they called the name of the town Dan, after the name of their father Dan born to Israel; however, the former name of the town was Laish. ³⁰ The children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image. Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the exile from the land. ³¹ So they set them up Micah’s carved image that he had made, all the time that the House of God was in Shiloh.

Crime at Gibeah of Benjamin

19 Now in those days, there was no king in Israel. There was a certain Levite dwelling in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who got himself a concubine out of Bethlehem in Judah. ² But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for a period of four months.

³ Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her to bring her back. He had his servant and a pair of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father’s house, and when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, kept him staying with him three days, eating, drinking and lodging there.

⁵ Now on the fourth day they woke up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart, but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you may go.” ⁶ So the two of them sat down and ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please, be willing to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.” ⁷ Then the man rose up to depart, but his father-in-law urged him, so he lodged there again. ⁸ Then he woke up early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman’s father said, “Please, strengthen yourself and tarry until afternoon!” So both of them ate. ⁹ And when the man rose up to depart, he and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Behold now, the day is waning toward evening; please, spend the night. Behold, the day is drawing to a close; lodge here and let your heart be merry. Then tomorrow get up early for your journey so that you may go home.”

¹⁰ But the man would not spend that night, so he rose up and departed and came to a place near Jebus—that is, Jerusalem—and with him were a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, please, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it.”

¹² But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners, who are not of Bnei-Yisrael. Let’s go on to Gibeah.” ¹³ “Come on,” he said to his servant, “let’s try to reach one of these places—we’ll spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah.” ¹⁴ So they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵ Then they turned aside there to enter and lodge in Gibeah. When he went in, he sat down in the town square, for there was no one who took them into his house to spend the night.

¹⁶ Now behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was of the hill country of Ephraim but dwelled in Gibeah, while the rest of the men of the place were Benjamites. ¹⁷ When he lifted up his eyes and saw the wayfaring man in the open square of the town, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

¹⁸ “We are passing from Bethlehem of Judah,” he said to him, “to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, for I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem of Judah. But now I am going to the House of Adonai, yet no one has taken me into his house. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, your handmaid, and the young man that is with your servants—there is no lack of anything.”

²⁰ The old man said, “Shalom to you! Let all your needs be on me—only don’t spend the night in the open square!” ²¹ So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

²² While they were making their hearts merry, behold, some worthless men of the town surrounded the house. Pounding the door, they shouted to the owner of the house, “Bring out the man that came into your house,” they said to the old man, “so we may have relations with him.”

²³ But the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my fellows, please don’t do this evil. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t commit this disgraceful deed. ²⁴ Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine—I will bring them out to you now, and you may abuse them and do to them whatever pleases you, but don’t do such a degrading thing to this man!”

²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them, and they raped her and abused her all the night until morning. When dawn broke, they let her go. ²⁶ As the morning came, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until it was full daylight.

²⁷ When her master rose up in the morning opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, behold, the woman his concubine had collapsed at the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ “Get up!” he said to her, “and let’s go.” But there was no response. So he placed her on the donkey. Then the man got up and went to his place.

²⁹ Now when he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her to all the territory of Israel. ³⁰ So it was, that everyone who saw it said, ‘ “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen, since the day that Bnei-Yisrael came up from the land of Egypt to this day! Think it over, take counsel and speak up!”

Battle of Gibeah

20 Then all Bnei-Yisrael went out and was assembled as one man, from Dan to Beersheba with the land of Gilead, before Adonai at Mizpah. ² The chiefs of the people and of the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God—400,000 foot soldiers armed with swords. ³ Now the children of Benjamin heard that Bnei-Yisrael had gone up to Mizpah.

Bnei-Yisrael asked, “Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said, “I came with my concubine to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵ Then men of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house over me at night. They intended to kill me, but instead, they raped my concubine until she died. ⁶ So I took my concubine and cut her into pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s possession. For they have committed something obscene and degrading in Israel. ⁷ Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your advice and counsel here.”

⁸ Then all the people arose as one man saying, “Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to his house. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men of a hundred throughout the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to supply provisions for the troops, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do to them according to all the disgrace that they have committed in Israel.”

¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the town, knit together as one man. ¹² And the tribes of Israel sent men through the tribe of Benjamin saying, “What is this wickedness that has taken place among you? ¹³ Now therefore, give up the men, the worthless fellows that are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge this evil from Israel.”

But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their kinsmen Bnei-Yisrael. ¹⁴ So the children of Benjamin were gathered from their towns to Gibeah, to go out to battle against Bnei-Yisrael. ¹⁵ On that day the children of Benjamin mustered 26,000 swordsmen from the towns, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered 700 chosen men. ¹⁶ Out of all these troops there were 700 chosen men that were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ Meanwhile the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, numbered 400,000 swordsmen; all men of war.

¹⁸ Then Bnei-Yisrael arose, went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They asked, “Who is to go up first to battle for us against the children of Benjamin?”

Adonai replied, “Judah first.”

¹⁹ So Bnei-Yisrael rose up in the morning and camped against Gibeah. ²⁰ The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and arrayed for battle against Gibeah. ²¹ But the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and struck down 22,000 men of Israel on the field that day.

²² But the people of the men of Israel rallied their strength and arrayed for battle again in the same place where they had arrayed themselves the first day. ²³ Yet Bnei-Yisrael went up and wept before Adonai until evening, then inquired of Adonai saying, “Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?”

Adonai said, “Go up against him.”

²⁴ So Bnei-Yisrael advanced against the children of Benjamin on the second day. ²⁵ Benjamin came out against them from Gibeah again the second day and struck down 18,000 of Bnei-Yisrael on the field—all drawing the sword.

²⁶ Then all Bnei-Yisrael went up, and all the people came to Bethel and wept and sat there before Adonai. They fasted that day until evening and they offered burnt-offerings and fellowship offerings before Adonai. ²⁷ Then Bnei-Yisrael inquired of Adonai (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸ and Pinchas son of Eleazar son of Aaron had ministered before it in those days) saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or should I cease?”

Adonai replied, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give him into your hand.”

²⁹ So Israel set men in ambush against Gibeah on all sides. ³⁰ Then Bnei-Yisrael advanced against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and arrayed against Gibeah, as at other times. ³¹ The children of Benjamin came out against the people, but they were drawn away from the town, and they began to strike and kill some of the people (about 30 men of Israel), as at other times, on the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. ³² So the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us as before.” But Bnei-Yisrael said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the town to the highways.” ³³ Then all the troops of Israel rose up from their place and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the troops of Israel in ambush burst out of their place west of Geba. ³⁴ Then 10,000 troops chosen from all Israel made a frontal attack on Gibeah, and the battle became fierce; but the Benjamites did not know not that disaster was about to strike them.

³⁵ Then Adonai struck Benjamin before Israel—Bnei-Yisrael killed 25,100 of Benjamin that day, all drawing the sword. ³⁶ So the children of Benjamin realized that they were defeated. Now the men of Israel had yielded ground to Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush that they had laid against Gibeah. ³⁷ So the men in ambush rushed suddenly upon Gibeah, then the men in another ambush advanced and struck the whole town with the edge of the sword. ³⁸ Now there was a prearranged sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush—they would make a great beacon of smoke rise up from the town— ³⁹ then the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin began to strike, killing about 30 of the men of Israel, they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the beacon began to arise up from the town in a pillar of smoke, Benjamin looked behind them, and behold, the whole town was going up in smoke to the sky. ⁴¹ Then the men of Israel turned back, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, for they realized that disaster had struck them. ⁴² Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel toward the way of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. Meanwhile those who came from the towns massacred them in their midst. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overtook them, near Gibeah toward the east. ⁴⁴ Thus 18,000 men of Benjamin fell, all them were men of valor. ⁴⁵ Then the rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but they picked off 5,000 of them on the highways. They pressed hard after them to Gidom, and struck down 2,000 more of them. ⁴⁶ So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men drawing the sword—all of them were men of valor.

⁴⁷ But 600 men turned and escaped into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months. ⁴⁸ The men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword—the entire city, the cattle and all that they found. They also set on fire all the towns that they found.

Israel Preserves the Benjaminites

21 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage.” ² So the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. ³ They said, “Adonai God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that one tribe should be missing in Israel?”

⁴ Then it was on the next day that the people rose up early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. ⁵ Then Bnei-Yisrael asked, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the assembly before Adonai?” For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who did not come up to Adonai at Mizpah saying, “He will surely be put to death.”

⁶ Now Bnei-Yisrael felt sorry for Benjamin their brother and said, “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel. ⁷ What should we do about providing wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by Adonai not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

⁸ Then they inquired, “Which one of the tribes of Israel that did not go up to Adonai at Mizpah?” Then behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were numbered, behold not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰ So the congregation sent 12,000 valiant warriors there, and commanded them saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. ¹¹ Now this is the thing that you will do: you are to utterly destroy every male and every woman who has lain with a man.” ¹² So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known man by lying with him. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed shalom to them. ¹⁴ When Benjamin returned at that time, they gave them the women whom they had spared from the women of Jabesh-gilead. Yet they were not enough for them. ¹⁵ So the people were sorry for Benjamin because Adonai had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?” ¹⁷ They said “The survivors of Benjamin must have heirs, so that a tribe would not be blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸ Yet we cannot give them wives of our daughters,” for Bnei-Yisrael had sworn saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin!”

¹⁹ So they said, “Behold, there is the feast of Adonai from year to year at Shiloh” (which is to the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah). ²⁰ So they commanded the children of Benjamin saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh should come out to join in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and let each of you catch his wife from among the daughters of Shiloh. Then go to the land of Benjamin. ²² So it will be, if their fathers or brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously for us, because we did not provide each one of them his wife in battle—nor did you give the girls to them, else you would now be guilty.’”

²³ So the children of Benjamin did so, and took the number of wives from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

²⁴ So Bnei-Yisrael departed from there at that time, each man to his tribe and family. Everyone went out from there to his own inheritance.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

A Barren Woman’s Petition is Granted

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim—his name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

³ Now this man used to go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to Adonai-Tzva’ot in Shiloh.^[a] (The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were kohanim of Adonai there.) ⁴ Then on the designated day Elkanah would sacrifice and give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, ⁵ but to Hannah he would give only one portion—even though he loved Hannah—for Adonai had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival would taunt her bitterly to provoke her, because Adonai had closed her womb. ⁷ So it was year after year, whenever she went up to the House of Adonai, that she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.

⁸ Then her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ After eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah got up. Now Eli the kohen was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the Temple of Adonai. ¹⁰ While her soul was bitter, she prayed to Adonai and wept. ¹¹ So she made a vow and said, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, if You will indeed look upon the affliction of Your handmaid, remember me and not forget Your handmaid, but grant Your handmaid a son, then I will give him to Adonai all the days of his life and no razor will ever touch his head.”

¹² It came to pass, as she prayed long before Adonai, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah was praying in her heart—only her lips were moving, but her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”

¹⁵ But in response Hannah said, “No, my lord, I am a woman with an oppressed spirit! I haven’t been drinking wine or beer. Instead I’ve been pouring out my soul before Adonai. ¹⁶ Don’t consider your handmaid a wicked woman. For out of my great anguish and grief I’ve been praying until now.”

¹⁷ Then Eli responded, “Go in shalom, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you asked of Him.”^[b]

¹⁸ “May your maidservant find favor in your eyes,” she said. So the woman went her way; she ate, and her countenance was no longer dejected.

¹⁹ They rose up early in the morning and worshipped before Adonai, then went back to their home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and Adonai remembered her. ²⁰ So it came to pass at the turn of the year that Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She called his name Samuel, “because I have asked Adonai for him.”

²¹ When the man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to Adonai and to fulfill his vow offering, ²² Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “When the child is weaned, I will bring him, so he may appear before Adonai and stay there forever.”

²³ So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Stay until you have weaned him—only may Adonai establish His word.” So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour and a jar of wine, and brought him to the House of Adonai in Shiloh, while the child was still young.

²⁵ After they slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ “It’s me, my lord!” she said. “As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman that stood by you here, praying to Adonai. ²⁷ For this boy I prayed, and Adonai has granted me my petition that I asked of Him. ²⁸ So I in turn dedicate him to Adonai—as long as he lives he is dedicated to Adonai.” Then he bowed in worship there before Adonai.

Hannah’s Prayer of Exultation

Eli’s Sons Sin Against Adonai

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the boy served Adonai before Eli the kohen.

¹² Now Eli’s sons were worthless men^[e]; they did not acknowledge Adonai. ¹³ Now this was the custom of the kohanim with the people: whenever any man offered a sacrifice, the kohen’s servant would come along, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, ¹⁴ and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the kohen would take for himself. This is how they dealt with all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before they burned the fat, the kohen’s servant would come and say to the one offering sacrifice, “Give the kohen meat for roasting, since he will not accept boiled meat from you—only raw.”

¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let them first burn the fat up as smoke, and then take as much as you desire,” he would reply, “No! But you must give it now—otherwise, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ Thus the sin of the young men was very great before Adonai, for the men despised the offering of Adonai.

¹⁸ But Samuel was ministering before Adonai, as a boy girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ Moreover, his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May Adonai give you offspring from this woman instead of the one she requested from Adonai.” Then they would return to their place. ²¹ So Adonai visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the child Samuel grew before Adonai.

²² Now Eli had grown very old. He heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how they slept with the women who served at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. ²³ So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear evil reports from all these people concerning you. ²⁴ No, my sons! For this is not a good report that I hear Adonai’s people spreading around. ²⁵ If a man sins against another, God may pardon him; but if a man sins against Adonai, who will intercede for him?” But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because Adonai desired to put them to death. ²⁶ Meanwhile, the child Samuel kept growing and increasing in favor both with Adonai and also with men.^[f]

²⁷ Now there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says Adonai: Did I not reveal Myself clearly to the house of your father when they were in Egypt belonging to Pharaoh’s palace? ²⁸ Also did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My kohanim, to officiate at My altar, to burn incense and to wear an ephod before Me? Did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of Bnei-Yisrael? ²⁹ Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by fattening yourselves with the choicest of every offering of Israel My people? ³⁰ Therefore Adonai God of Israel declares, I indeed said that your house and your father’s house should walk before Me forever. But now declares Adonai, far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in your household will reach old age. ³² Moreover, you will behold the distress of My dwelling, despite all that is good that has been done to Israel. So no one in your household will reach old age, forever. ³³ Any man of yours that I did not cut off from My altar would make your eyes weep and your soul grieve. So all the increase of your household will die as young men. ³⁴ Now this will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons—Hophni and Phinehas—on the same day both of them will die.

³⁵ “Yet I will raise up for Myself a faithful kohen who will do according to what is in My heart and My mind. Then I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one all the time. ³⁶ Anyone left in your household will come and bow low to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say: ‘Please, assign me to one of the priestly offices so that I may eat a morsel of bread.’”

Calling of Samuel

3 Now the boy Samuel was in the service of Adonai under Eli. In those days the word of Adonai was rare—there were no visions breaking through. ² One day, Eli was lying down in his place—now his eyes had grown dim so that he could not see, ³ and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Samuel was lying down in Adonai’s Temple, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then Adonai called, “Samuel!” So he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

But he replied, “I didn’t call—go back to sleep.” So he went back and lay down.

⁶ Then Adonai called Samuel yet again. So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

But he answered, “I didn’t call, my son—go back to sleep.” ⁷ Now Samuel had not experienced Adonai yet, since the word of Adonai had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ Adonai called Samuel again for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli, and said “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that Adonai was calling the boy.

⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back to sleep, and if He calls you, say: ‘Speak, Adonai, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ Then Adonai came and stood and called as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

¹¹ Then Adonai said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone that hears it will tingle. ¹² In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity that he knew about, because his sons brought a curse on themselves yet he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel lay down until the morning, when he opened the doors of the House of Adonai. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹⁷ “What is the word that He has spoken to you?” he said. “Please don’t hide it from me. May God do so to you and even more if you hide anything at all from me that He spoke to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing. Then Eli said, “He is Adonai. May He do what is good in His eyes.”

¹⁹ So Samuel grew up and Adonai was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was entrusted as a prophet of Adonai. ²¹ Adonai started to appear once more in Shiloh, for Adonai revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Adonai.

Defeat and Loss of the Ark

4 So it was that the word of Samuel went forth to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines in battle. They camped at Eben-ezer while the Philistines camped in Aphek. ² The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel, and when the battle was fought, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed 4,000 men on the battlefield.

³ When the people came back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did Adonai bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let’s fetch the ark of the covenant of Adonai from Shiloh that He may come among us and deliver us from the hand of our enemies.” ⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of Adonai-Tzva’ot who sits above the cheruvim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵ Now when the ark of the covenant of Adonai entered the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the ground resounded.

⁶ When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they wondered, “What’s this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” When they realized that the ark of Adonai had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” So they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has ever happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of this mighty God? This is the God that struck down the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong, and conduct yourselves like men, O Philistines, or else you will become enslaved to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be like men and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines did fight and Israel was defeated—they fled every man to his tent. The slaughter was very great, as 30,000 of Israel’s foot soldiers fell. ¹¹ Moreover, the ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

¹² Now that same day a man of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. ¹³ When he arrived, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the wayside watching, for his heart was trembling for the ark of God. When the man arrived to announce it in the town, the entire town cried out. ¹⁴ And when Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he asked, “What’s this noisy commotion?” So the man rushed and came and told Eli.

¹⁵ Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were fixed in a blind stare. ¹⁶ Then the man said to Eli, “I am one coming from the battlefield—I escaped from the battlefield today.”

“What is happening, my son?” he asked.

¹⁷ And the messenger answered and said, “Israel fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons died—Hophni and Phinehas—and the ark of God was captured.” ¹⁸ As soon as he mentioned of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the town gate. His neck broke and he died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel 40 years.

¹⁹ Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child and about to deliver. When she heard the report that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth because she was seized with her labor pains. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women attending her said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have brought forth a son!” But she did not respond or take it to heart. ²¹ Then she named the child Ichabod^[g] saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² So she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken!”

The Ark Afflicts the Philistines

5 Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. ² The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the temple of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon. ³ But when the Ashdodites arose early next morning, to everyone’s surprise, Dagon had fallen to his face on the ground before the ark of Adonai. So they took Dagon up and put him back in his place. ⁴ But when they arose early the following morning, surprisingly, Dagon had fallen to his face on the ground before the ark of Adonai, and the head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only Dagon’s trunk was left on him. ⁵ That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any who enter Dagon’s house will tread on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.

⁶ Then the hand of Adonai was heavy upon the Ashdodites, ravaging them and afflicting Ashdod and its vicinity with tumors. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for His hand has dealt harshly against us as well as against our god Dagon.” ⁸ So they sent word and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and asked, “What will we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”

They replied, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel over. ⁹ But it came about, that after they had carried it around, that the hand of Adonai was against the city causing very great panic, as He struck the people of the city, from the youngest to the oldest, so that tumors broke out on them.

¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But it came about as the ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying, “They’ve brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people!” ¹¹ So they sent word and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away—let it go back to its own place, so it won’t kill us and our people!” For a panic of death was throughout the entire city, as God’s hand was very heavy there. ¹² The people who did not die were afflicted with tumors, so that the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

Philistines Send the Ark Back

6 After the ark of Adonai had been in the country of the Philistines seven months, ² the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners saying, “What should we do with the ark of Adonai? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³ So they said, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel back, do not send it empty. For you must surely return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will be revealed to you why His hand has not been removed from you.”

⁴ “What guilt offering should we return to Him?” they asked.

So they said, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice—according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on each of you and on your lords. ⁵ So you will make images of your tumors and images of your mice that mar the land, and you must give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand off of you, your gods and your land. ⁶ Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He afflicted them, didn’t they send them away so they left? ⁷ Now therefore get a new cart ready, two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke, hitch the cows to the cart, and return their calves home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of Adonai and place it on the cart; also put the golden objects that you return to Him as a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it off so it may go. ⁹ Then watch—if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then it was He who inflicted on us this great harm. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it just happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ So the people did so—they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ Then they placed the ark of Adonai on the cart together with the box, the golden mice, and the models of their tumors. ¹² So the cows took the way straight toward Beth-shemesh—they kept along the same highway, lowing as they went, and turned aside neither to the right nor to the left. The lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³ Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. When they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there, where there was a large stone. Then they chopped the wood of the cart and offered up the cows as a burnt offering to Adonai. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the ark of Adonai and the box that was with it that contained the gold objects, and placed them on the large stone. Then the people of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to Adonai that day.

¹⁶ Now when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron that same day. ¹⁷ So these are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to Adonai: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron. ¹⁸ The golden mice also corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords—both the fortified cities and their country villages—as far as the large stone on which they had set down the ark of Adonai. It remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

¹⁹ Then He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had gazed into the ark of Adonai. He struck down the people—70 out of 50,000 men—the people mourned because Adonai had struck the people a great slaughter. ²⁰ So the men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before Adonai—this holy God? To whom should it go up from us?” ²¹ So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of Adonai. Come down—bring it up to you.”