Beginning

4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

The Ark of God Captured

And Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and they made camp beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. ² The Philistines arrayed themselves in a battle line against Israel, and when the battle was over, Israel was beaten before the Philistines, who struck down on the field of battle about four thousand men. ³ When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord struck us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that it might come among us and rescue us out of the hand of our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the ground was in an uproar. ⁶ When the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, “What does 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 The Philistines were afraid, when they said, “God is come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For this has never happened to us before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong and be men, O Philistines, lest you be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Now be men and fight.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought and Israel was beaten. And they fled every man into his tent. It was a very great defeat, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ Now the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² There ran a man of Benjamin from the battle line, and he came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dust upon his head. ¹³ When he came, Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching. For his heart feared for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

¹⁴ When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?”

And the man hurriedly came and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. ¹⁶ The man said to Eli, “I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the battle line.”

And he said, “What is the word, my son?”

¹⁷ The messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there also has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the ark of God is taken.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke and he died, for he was an old and heavy man. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. ²⁰ About the time of her death the women that stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or regard it.

²¹ She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

The Philistines and the Ark

5 Now the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. ³ When the Ashdodites arose early in the morning, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. ⁴ When they arose early on the next morning, again Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the torso of Dagon was left to him. ⁵ Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any coming into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶ But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites. He desolated them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel cannot remain with us. For His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”

And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around to Gath.” And they carried the ark of the God of Israel there.

⁹ It happened that after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And He struck the men of the city, both small and great. And tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

And it came about that as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people.” ¹¹ So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to His own place that He might not kill me and my people,” for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² The men that did not die were plagued with the tumors. And the cry of the city went up to heaven.

The Ark Returned to Israel

6 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”

³ They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. But return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”

⁴ Then said they, “What will be the guilt offering which we will return to Him?”

They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵ Therefore you will make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land. And you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from off you, even from off your gods and from off your land. ⁶ Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He dealt severely with them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

⁷ “Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke. Then tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart. And put the images of gold, which you return to Him for a guilt offering, in a box by the side. And send it away, that it may go. ⁹ See, if it goes up by the way of His own territory to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it is not His hand that struck us; it was by chance that it happened to us.”

¹⁰ The men did so. And they took two milk cows, tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, as well as the box with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. ¹² Then the cows took the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left with the lords of the Philistines walking after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ Now Beth Shemesh was reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they split the wood of the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, where the articles of gold were, and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one. ¹⁸ And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities, and of country villages. And the great stone, where they set the ark of the Lord, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite.

¹⁹ Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men. And the people lamented, because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰ The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom will He go up from us?”

²¹ And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come down, and take it up to you.”

7 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. And they brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. ² And from the day the ark resided in Kiriath Jearim, the days increased to twenty years.

Samuel Judges Israel

And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. ³ Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths from your midst. And make firm your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only. Then He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the children of Israel put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served the Lord only.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ They gathered together to Mizpah. And they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying unto the Lord our God for us, that He might save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him.

¹⁰ As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines, and confused them. So they were beaten before Israel. ¹¹ Israel’s fighting men went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, as far as below Beth Kar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen. And he called its name Ebenezer^[a] saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

¹³ So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not again come into the territory 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 rescued their territory out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ So Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ He went annually in a circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷ But his return was to Ramah, for his house was there and there he judged Israel. And there he built an altar to the Lord.

Israel Demands a King

8 And it came about when Samuel was old, that he installed his sons as judges for Israel. ² Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judging in Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not walk in his way, for they followed after unlawful gain, and they took bribes, and they perverted justice.

⁴ And all the elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now, install for us a king to govern us like all the nations.”

⁶ But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, because they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in relation to all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but Me they have rejected from reigning over them. ⁸ Just as all the deeds which they have done to Me, from the day I brought them up from Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken Me and have served other gods, so they are doing also to you now. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice. Only you will testify against them and proclaim to them the judgment concerning the king who will reign over them.”

¹⁰ So Samuel said all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking from him a king. ¹¹ And he said, “This will be the judgment concerning the king who will reign over you: Your sons he will take in order to place them for himself in his chariots and as his horsemen, and they will run before his chariot, ¹² and in order to assign for himself captains of thousands and captains of fifties, and to plow his ground, and to gather in his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ And your daughters he will take for perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. ¹⁴ And your choicest fields, and vineyards, and olive groves he will take and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ And of your seed fields and your vineyards he will take a tenth of their harvest and will give it to his high officials and to his servants. ¹⁶ And your menservants and your maidservants, and the best of your young men and asses he will take and make do his work. ¹⁷ Your flocks he will take a tenth of, but you will be his for slaves. ¹⁸ And you will cry out in that day because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But surely a king will be over us! ²⁰ So that we also will be like all the nations! And so that our king will govern us, and will go out before us, and will fight our battles.”

²¹ And after Samuel heard all the words of the people, he spoke them in the hearing of the Lord. ²² And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice, and make for them a king.”

So Samuel said to Israel’s fighting men, “Go every man to his city.”