Beginning

4 ¶ And Samuel spoke unto all Israel. Now at that time Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and pitched their camp beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines pitched theirs in Aphek.

² And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel; and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, who slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.

³ And when the people returned into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the LORD smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us that when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.

⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of the hosts, who dwells between the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with such a great shout that the earth trembled.

⁶ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What great shout of joy is this in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.

⁷ And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! For yesterday and day before yesterday it was not so.

⁸ Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

⁹ Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye not serve the Hebrews as they have served you; quit yourselves like men and fight.

¹⁰ ¶ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled each one into his tent, and there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell.

¹¹ And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

¹² ¶ And running out of the battle, a man of Benjamin came to Shiloh that same day with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head.

¹³ And when he came, behold Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and gave the news, all the city cried out.

¹⁴ And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What is the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily and told Eli.

¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes had become dim so that he could not see.

¹⁶ And the man said unto Eli, I come from the battle; I fled today out of the army. And he said unto him, What has happened, my son?

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

¹⁸ And it came to pass when he made mention of 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 man and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹ ¶ And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was with child, near to be delivered, and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains had come upon her.

²⁰ And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast given birth to a son. But she did not answer, neither did she regard it.

²¹ And 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 Therefore, she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.

5 ¶ And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.

² When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

³ And when those of Ashdod arose early in the morning, behold, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again.

⁴ And when they arose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had 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 stump of Dagon was left to him.

⁵ Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon’s temple tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

⁶ ¶ But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon those of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them with hemorrhoids in Ashdod and within all their borders.

⁷ And when they saw this, those of Ashdod said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god.

⁸ They sent, therefore, and gathered all the cardinals of the Philistines unto themselves 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 removed unto Gath. And they removed the ark of the God of Israel there.

⁹ And it came to pass that after they had removed it, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction. And he smote the men of that city from the smallest to the greatest, and they broke out with hemorrhoids.

¹⁰ Therefore, they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have removed the ark of the God of Israel unto us to kill me and my people.

¹¹ So they sent and gathered together all the cardinals of the Philistines and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it not kill me and my people, for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city, and the hand of God had become very heavy there.

¹² And those that did not die were smitten with the hemorrhoids, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6 ¶ And the ark of the LORD was in the land of the Philistines seven months.

² Then the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we shall return it to his place.

³ And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but ye shall pay unto him the expiation of guilt; then ye shall be healed, and ye shall know why his hand was not removed from you.

⁴ Then said they, What shall be the expiation of guilt which we shall pay unto him? They answered, Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden rats, according to the number of the cardinals of the Philistines, for the same plague that is on you is also on your cardinals.

⁵ Therefore, ye shall make images of your hemorrhoids and images of your rats that destroy the land, and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel; peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your land.

⁶ Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had dealt thus among 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 no yoke has been placed and tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home from them.

⁸ Then ye shall take the ark of the LORD and lay it upon the cart and put the jewels of gold, which ye pay him for expiation of guilt, in a coffer by the side thereof, and let it go.

⁹ And see if it goes up by the way of his own border to Bethshemesh, then he has done us this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was an accident that happened to us.

¹⁰ ¶ And the men did so and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

¹¹ Then they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart and the coffer with the rats of gold and the images of their hemorrhoids.

¹² And the cows went straight down the way of Bethshemesh and went along the highway, lowing as they went and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left, and the cardinals of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

¹³ And those of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴ And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stopped there, for there was a great stone there; and they clave the wood of the cart and offered the cows in a burnt offering unto the LORD.

¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the coffer that was with it, in which were the jewels of gold, and put them on the great stone, and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.

¹⁶ And when the five cardinals of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ These, therefore are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines returned in expiation for their guilt unto the LORD, for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one,

¹⁸ and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five cardinals; a ransom for those of the fenced cities and for the country dwellers even unto the great stone of Abel, upon which they placed the ark of the LORD in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite, and this is remembered unto this day.

¹⁹ ¶ Then God smote those of Bethshemesh because they had looked at the ark of the LORD; he smote fifty thousand of the people and seventy principal men. And the people lamented because the LORD had smitten the people with such a great slaughter.

²⁰ And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall he go up from us?

²¹ And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD; come down, therefore, and carry it up to you.

7 ¶ And the men of Kirjathjearim came and carried up the ark of the LORD and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.

² And it came to pass while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

³ ¶ And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts unto the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁴ Then the sons of Israel did put away the Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the LORD only.

⁵ And Samuel said, Gather all Israel in Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.

⁶ And they gathered together in Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

⁷ ¶ And when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel were gathered together in Mizpeh, the cardinals of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸ And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁹ And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering completely unto the LORD, and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.

¹⁰ And it came to pass as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering that the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and crushed them, and they were smitten before Israel.

¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they were below Bethcar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the LORD has helped us.

¹³ ¶ So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the border of Israel, and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴ And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath with their borders, and Israel delivered them out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorite.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶ And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places.

¹⁷ Then he would return to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the LORD.

8 ¶ And it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.

² Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah; they were judges in Beersheba.

³ And his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after greed, receiving bribes and perverting that which is right.

⁴ ¶ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel in Ramah

⁵ and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons do not walk in thy ways; therefore make us a king to judge us like all the Gentiles.

⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

⁷ And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them.

⁸ According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, with which they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do unto thee.

⁹ Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice; however first protest solemnly against them by declaring unto them the rights of the king that shall reign over them.

¹⁰ And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked him for a king.

¹¹ And he said, This will be the right of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariot.

¹² And he will appoint captains over thousands and captains over fifties and will set them to plough his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and the munitions of his chariots.

¹³ And he will take your daughters to be confectioneries and to be cooks and to be bakers.

¹⁴ And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your good oliveyards and give them to his slaves.

¹⁵ And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards to give to his officers and to his slaves.

¹⁶ And he will take your menslaves and your maidslaves and your good young men and your asses and do his work with them.

¹⁷ He will also take the tenth of your sheep, and finally ye shall be his slaves.

¹⁸ And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

¹⁹ Nevertheless, the people refused to hear the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but we will have a king over us

²⁰ that we also may be like all the Gentiles and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.

²¹ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

²² And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and place a king over them. Then Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go each one unto his city.