4 ¹ And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. ² And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when ^[a]they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines; and they slew of the ^[b]army in the field about four thousand men. ³ And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath Jehovah smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of Shiloh unto us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies. ⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who ^[c]sitteth above 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 Jehovah came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. ⁶ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of Jehovah was come into the camp. ⁷ And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 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 manner of ^[d]plagues in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. ¹⁰ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹ And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

¹² And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the ^[e]army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. ¹³ And when he came, lo, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the wayside watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. ¹⁴ And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man hasted, and came and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. ¹⁶ And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the ^[f]army, and I fled to-day out of the ^[g]army. And he said, How went the matter, my son? ¹⁷ And he that brought the tidings answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. ¹⁸ And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck brake, 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’ 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 brought forth; for her pains came upon her. ²⁰ And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast brought forth a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. ²¹ And she named the child ^[h]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 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.

5 Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. ² And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. ³ And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen ^[i]upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. ⁴ And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen ^[j]upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay 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 house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day.

⁶ But the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with ^[k]tumors, even Ashdod and the borders thereof. ⁷ And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they 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 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 about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel thither. ⁹ And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great discomfiture: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors brake out upon them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, 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 us, to slay us and our people. ¹¹ They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it slay us not, and our people. For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² And the men that died not were smitten with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6 And the ark of Jehovah was in the ^[l]country of the Philistines seven months. ² And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? show us wherewith we shall send it to its place. ³ And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. ⁴ Then said they, What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? And they said, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on ^[m]you all, and on your lords. ⁵ Wherefore ye shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar 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 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had ^[n]wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let ^[o]the people go, and they departed? ⁷ Now therefore take and prepare you a new cart, and two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke; and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; ⁸ and take the ark of Jehovah, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass-offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. ⁹ And see; if it goeth up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

¹⁰ And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home; ¹¹ and they put the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the kine took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along ^[p]the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. ¹³ And they of Beth-shemesh 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 the Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great ^[q]stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered up the kine for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto Jehovah. ¹⁶ And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ And these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering unto Jehovah: 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, even unto the great stone, whereon they set down the ark of Jehovah, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

¹⁹ And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰ And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall 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 Jehovah; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. 7 ¹ And the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in ^[r]the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah. ² And it came to pass, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel ^[s]lamented after Jehovah.

³ And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto Jehovah with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts unto Jehovah, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴ Then the children of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served Jehovah only.

⁵ And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto Jehovah. ⁶ And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. ⁷ And 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 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto Jehovah 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 whole burnt-offering unto Jehovah: and Samuel cried unto Jehovah for Israel; and Jehovah answered him. ¹⁰ And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but Jehovah thundered with a great ^[t]thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten down before Israel. ¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it ^[u]Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us. ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel: and the hand of Jehovah 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; and the border thereof did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷ And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar unto Jehovah.

8 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ² Now the name of his first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. ³ And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah; ⁵ and they said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto Jehovah. ⁷ And Jehovah 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 be king 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, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. ⁹ Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit thou shalt protest solemnly unto them, and shalt show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

¹⁰ And Samuel told all the words of Jehovah unto the people that asked of him a king. ¹¹ And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them unto him, ^[v]for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; ¹² and he will appoint them unto him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will set some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. ¹³ And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. ¹⁴ And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his ^[w]officers, and to his servants. ¹⁶ And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest ^[x]young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks: and ye shall be his servants. ¹⁸ And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye shall have chosen you; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

¹⁹ But the people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay: but we will have a king over us, ²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge 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 Jehovah. ²² And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.