They got up early the next morning and worshipped in the LORD's presence, and then they returned and came to their house at Ramah. Elkanah had marital relations with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

They slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.

Now I'm dedicating him to the LORD, and as long as he lives, he will be dedicated to the LORD." Then they worshipped the LORD there.

he would stick it into the boiler or pot, and take everything the fork brought up that is, the priest would take it for himself. This is what they were supposed to do with all the Israelis who came there to Shiloh.

But even before they burned the fat, the servant of the priest would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, "Give me meat to roast for the priest. He won't accept boiled meat from you, but only raw."

If the man told him, "They must surely burn up the fat first, and then take for yourself whatever you desire," the servant would say, "No, give it now, and if you don't, I'll take it by force!"

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the LORD give you descendants from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD." Then they would return to their home.

Now Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

But they would not follow the advice of their father; for the LORD wanted to put them to death. But the boy Samuel continued to grow both physically and in favor with the LORD and the people.

A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, "This is what the LORD says: "When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron

When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they asked, "What is this noise coming from shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?" Then they realized that the Ark of the LORD had come into the camp,

and the Philistines were terrified. "God has come into the camp," they said. "How terrible for us, because nothing like this has ever happened before!

Philistines, be strong and be men, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews just as they have been slaves to you! Be men and fight!"

When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD. They took Dagon and put him back in his place.

But when they got up the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on the ground again in front of the Ark of the LORD. Dagon's head and both of his arms were broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left intact.

When the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "Don't let the Ark of the God of Israel stay with us, because he is severely attacking us and our god Dagon."

They sent messengers and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and asked, "What are we to do with the Ark of the God of Israel?" They said, "Let the Ark of the God of Israel move to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel.

After they moved it, the LORD moved against the town, causing a very great panic. He struck the men of the town, from young to old with tumors of the groin.

Then they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. When the Ark of God arrived in Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people!"

They sent messengers and gathered together all the Philistine lords: "Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to where it belongs so that it does not kill us and our people." Meanwhile, a deadly panic had spread all over the town, and God kept on pressuring them there.

They said, "If you send the Ark of the God of Israel back, don't send it empty, but rather be sure to send back to him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and will know why his oppression has not been removed from you."

They asked, "What is the guilt offering that we should send back to him?"

"Five gold tumors and five gold mice," they answered, "according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, since the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. Make images of your tumors and images of the mice that are destroying your land, and you are to give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will remove his pressure from you, your gods, and your land.

Why should you harden your hearts just as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Isn't it true that after God toyed with them, they let Israel go, and off they went?

The men did this. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves in the house.

They put the Ark of the LORD, the box, the gold mice, and the images of their tumors on the cart.

The cows took a straight path along the road to Beth-shemesh. They stayed on the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn to the right or the left. The Philistine lords followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

Now the people of Beth-shemesh were gathering their wheat harvest in the valley. They looked up, saw the Ark, and rejoiced to see it.

The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and stopped there. In that place there was a large stone. They broke up the wood from the cart, and offered up the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

The descendants of Levi took down the Ark of the LORD, along with the box that was with it, containing the objects of gold, and they put them on the large stone. The men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD that day.

When the five Philistine lords saw this, they returned to Ekron that very day.

The gold mice represented the number of all the Philistine towns belonging to the five lords, both fortified towns and unwalled villages. The large stone, beside which they put the Ark of the LORD, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD struck down the people with a great slaughter.

They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim, who told them, "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you."

The men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the Ark of the LORD. They brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated his son Eleazar to care for the Ark of the LORD.

So they came together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out in the LORD's presence.

On that day they fasted there and said, "We have sinned against the LORD." Then Samuel judged the Israelis at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that the Israelis had gathered at Mizpah, the Philistine lords came up against Israel. When the Israelis heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines.

While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines approached to attack Israel. But that day the LORD thundered against the Philistines and threw them into panic, and they were defeated before Israel.

The Philistines were subdued, and they did not continue to enter the territory of Israel.

The name of his firstborn son was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba.

His sons did not follow Samuel's example. Instead, they pursued dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

They told him, "Look, you're old, and your sons don't follow your example. So appoint a king to govern us like all the other nations."

Samuel was displeased when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD.

The LORD told Samuel, "Listen to the people in all that they say to you. In fact, it's not you they have rejected, but rather they have rejected me from being their king.

Like all the things they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day, they have forsaken me and followed other gods. They're also doing the same thing to you.

He said, "This is how the king who rules over you will operate: He will conscript your sons and assign them to his chariots. He will conscript them as his horsemen, and they'll run in front of his chariots.

The people refused to listen to Samuel. Instead, they insisted, "No! Let a king rule over us instead!

He went through the hill country of Ephraim and through the region of Shalishah, but they did not find them. Then they went through the region of Shaalim, but they were not there. They also went through the territory of the descendants of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

When they entered the region of Zuph, Saul told the young man with him, "Come on, let's go back so my father does not stop worrying about the donkeys and become anxious about us."

Saul told his young man, "That's a good suggestion! Come on, let's go!" Then they entered the town where the man of God was.

As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women going out to draw water, and they told them, "Is the seer here?"

They answered them: "Yes, he's right there ahead of you. Hurry, for he came to town just today because there is a sacrifice for the people on the high place today.

They went up to the town, and as they were coming to the center of the town, Samuel was coming out to meet them, on his way up to the high place.

Now as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, don't give any thought to them, because they've been found. Meanwhile, to whom is all Israel looking, if not to you and all of your father's household?"

When they had come down from the high place into town, Samuel spoke to Saul on the roof.

They got up early in the morning, and about daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up and I'll send you off." Saul got up and the two of them, he and Samuel, went outside.

As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel told Saul, "Tell your young man to go ahead of us and when he has gone ahead, stop for a while so I may declare God's word to you."

When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They'll tell you, "The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and he's anxious about you. He's asking, "What will I do about my son?'

They'll greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you're to accept from them.

"After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim where the Philistine garrison is. As you arrive there at the town, you'll meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre being played in front of them, and they'll be prophesying.

When they arrived there at Gibeah, a band of prophets was right there to meet them. The Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he prophesied along with them.

Saul's uncle told him and to his young man, "Where did you go?" He said, "To look for the donkeys, and when we saw that they couldn't be found, we went to Samuel."

Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin according to its families, and the family of Matri was chosen. Finally, Kish's son Saul was chosen, but when they looked for him, they couldn't find him.

So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" The LORD said, "He is here, hiding among the baggage."

They ran and brought him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the others by a head.

But some troublemakers said, "How can this man deliver us?" They despised him and did not bring him a gift. But Saul remained silent.

Just then Saul was coming in from the field behind the oxen and he said, "What's with the people? Why are they crying?" They reported to him what the men of Jabesh had said.

He took a yoke of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers through all the territory of Israel: "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not come out and join Saul and Samuel!" The fear of the LORD fell on the people and they came out as one man.

They told the messengers who had come, "You are to say this to the men of Jabesh-gilead, "Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be delivered.'" The messengers went and reported to the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.

The next day Saul separated the people into three companies. They came into the camp during the morning watch, and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered so that no two of them remained together.

So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king in the LORD's presence in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings in the LORD's presence, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

They said, "You haven't cheated us or oppressed us, and you haven't taken anything from anyone's hand."

He told them, "Today the LORD is testifying, along with his anointed, that you haven't found any bribes in my possession." They said, "He's a witness."

But they forgot the LORD their God, so he handed them over to the domination of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into domination by the Philistines and by the king of Moab, and Israel fought against them.

"Then they cried out to the LORD: "We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.'

Don't turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or deliver because they're useless.

The Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And they advanced and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

When the men of Israel saw that they were in distress (for the people were in difficult circumstances), the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in crags, in tombs, and in pits.

If they say to us, "Stay there until we come to you,' then we will stay where we are and not go up to them.

But if they say, "Come up and fight us,' then we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hands, and this will be the sign for us."

When the two of them showed themselves to the Philistine garrison, the Philistines said, "Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding."

Saul told the people who were with him, "Do a roll call and see who has left us." They did a roll call, and Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

The Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines, who had gone up with them from the surrounding areas to the camp, even they joined Israel and those who were with Saul and Jonathan.

All the Israelis who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, and even they pursued the Philistines in the battle.

How much better if the army had eaten freely today of their enemy's spoil that they found, because the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great."

That day they struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the army was very weary.

Then Saul said, "Disperse yourselves among the soldiers and say to them, "Let each man bring his ox and his sheep to me, and you are to slaughter them here and eat. But don't sin against the LORD by eating meat with the blood.'" So every soldier brought his ox with him that night, and they slaughtered them there.

Saul said, "Let's go down after the Philistines tonight and plunder them until dawn, and let's not leave a single one of them alive." They said, "Do whatever seems good to you!" But the priest said, "Let's draw near to God here."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "I'll punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, when he set himself against Israel in the way, as they were going up from Egypt.

Now, go and attack Amalek. Completely destroy all that they have. Don't spare them, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, both ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

Saul told the Kenites, "Withdraw from the Amalekites so that I don't destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelis when they departed from Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.

Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle the fattened animals and lambs along with all that was good. They were not willing to completely destroy them, but they did completely destroy everything that was worthless and inferior.

Saul replied, "They brought them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of the sheep and cattle to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God, and the rest they completely destroyed."

The LORD sent you on a mission: "Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they're destroyed.'

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab, and said, "Surely he's the LORD's anointed."

The Philistines assembled their army for battle. They were assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

Saul and the Israelis assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they set up their forces to meet the Philistines.

When Saul and all the Israelis heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very frightened.

When all the Israelis saw the man, they fled from him and were very frightened.

When the words that David had spoken were heard, they were reported to Saul, and he sent for him.