The First Book of Samuel
[1:1] Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite: [1:2] and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. [1:3] This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. [1:4] When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: [1:5] but to Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. [1:6] Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. [1:7] as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of Yahweh, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. [1:8] Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why weep you? and why don't you eat? and why is your heart grieved? am I not better to you than ten sons? [1:9] So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. [1:10] She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, and wept sore. [1:11] She vowed a vow, and said, Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come on his head. [1:12] It happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli marked her mouth. [1:13] Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. [1:14] Eli said to her, How long will you be drunken? put away your wine from you. [1:15] Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. [1:16] Don't count your handmaid for a wicked woman; for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken hitherto. [1:17] Then Eli answered, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. [1:18] She said, Let your handmaid find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad any more. [1:19] They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her. [1:20] It happened, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of Yahweh. [1:21] The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. [1:22] But Hannah didn't go up; for she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned; and then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and there abide forever. [1:23] Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems you good; wait until you have weaned him; only Yahweh establish his word. So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him. [1:24] When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of Yahweh in Shiloh: and the child was young. [1:25] They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. [1:26] She said, Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. [1:27] For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him: [1:28] therefore also I have granted him to Yahweh; as long as he lives he is granted to Yahweh. He worshiped Yahweh there.
[2:1] Hannah prayed, and said:
My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. [2:2] There is no one as holy as Yahweh, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. [2:3] Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Don't let arrogance come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. [2:4] The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are girded with strength. [2:5] Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes. [2:6] Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. [2:7] Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. [2:8] He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's. He has set the world on them. [2:9] He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength. [2:10] Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
[2:11] Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to Yahweh before Eli the priest. [2:12] Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn't know Yahweh. [2:13] The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; [2:14] and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. [2:15] Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw. [2:16] If the man said to him, They will surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would say, No, but you shall give it to me now: and if not, I will take it by force. [2:17] The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh. [2:18] But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. [2:19] Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. [2:20] Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Yahweh give you seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh. They went to their own home. [2:21] Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh. [2:22] Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. [2:23] He said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. [2:24] No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: you make Yahweh's people to disobey. [2:25] If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Yahweh, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh was minded to kill them. [2:26] The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. [2:27] There came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? [2:28] and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? [2:29] Why kick you at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people? [2:30] Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever: but now Yahweh says, Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. [2:31] Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father's house, that there shall not be an old man in your house. [2:32] You shall see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. [2:33] The man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall be to consume your eyes, and to grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age. [2:34] This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them. [2:35] I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before my anointed forever. [2:36] It shall happen, that everyone who is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Please put me into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
[3:1] The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. The word of Yahweh was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision. [3:2] It happened at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), [3:3] and the lamp of God hadn't yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down to sleep, in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark of God was; [3:4] that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, Here am I. [3:5] He ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for you called me. He said, I didn't call; lie down again. He went and lay down. [3:6] Yahweh called yet again, Samuel. Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for you called me. He answered, I didn't call, my son; lie down again. [3:7] Now Samuel didn't yet know Yahweh, neither was the word of Yahweh yet revealed to him. [3:8] Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for you called me. Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child. [3:9] Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call you, that you shall say, Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. [3:10] Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak; for your servant hears. [3:11] Yahweh said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. [3:12] In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. [3:13] For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse on themselves, and he didn't restrain them. [3:14] Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering forever. [3:15] Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. [3:16] Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. He said, Here am I. [3:17] He said, "What is the thing that Yahweh has spoken to you? Please don't hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you." [3:18] Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. He said, It is Yahweh: let him do what seems him good. [3:19] Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. [3:20] All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh. [3:21] Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.
[4:1] The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. [4:2] The Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was struck before the Philistines; and they killed of the army in the field about four thousand men. [4:3] When the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies. [4:4] So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. [4:5] When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. [4:6] When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What means the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? They understood that the ark of Yahweh was come into the camp. [4:7] The Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. They said, Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore. [4:8] Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness. [4:9] Be strong, and behave yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. [4:10] The Philistines fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. [4:11] The ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. [4:12] There ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with earth on his head. [4:13] When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. [4:14] When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What means the noise of this tumult? The man hurried, and came and told Eli. [4:15] Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. [4:16] The man said to Eli, I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. He said, How went the matter, my son? [4:17] He who brought the news answered, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. [4:18] It happened, 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 broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years. [4:19] His daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: 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 bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her. [4:20] About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, Don't be afraid; for you have brought forth a son. But she didn't answer, neither did she regard it. [4:21] 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. [4:22] She said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.
[5:1] Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. [5:2] The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. [5:3] When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. [5:4] When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off on the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. [5:5] Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day. [5:6] But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. [5:7] 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 on us, and on Dagon our god. [5:8] They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? They answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. They carried the ark of the God of Israel there. [5:9] It was so, that after they had carried it about, the hand of Yahweh was against the city with a very great confusion: and he struck the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors broke out on them. [5:10] So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. It happened, 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 kill us and our people. [5:11] 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 not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly confusion throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. [5:12] The men who didn't die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
[6:1] The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months. [6:2] The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Show us with which we shall send it to its place."