And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of Jehovah, were there.

And it came to pass on the day that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions;

And Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk; (now Eli the priest sat upon the seat by the door-post of the temple of Jehovah;)

And she vowed a vow, and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him to Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

And it came to pass as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli marked her mouth.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; and Eli thought she was drunken.

And Eli said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.

And Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of him.

And Elkanah her husband, and all his house, went up to sacrifice to Jehovah the yearly sacrifice and his vow.

But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, I will wait until the child is weaned; then will I bring him, that he may appear before Jehovah, and there abide for ever.

And they slaughtered the bullock, and brought the boy to Eli.

And also I have lent him to Jehovah: all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah. And he worshipped Jehovah there.

They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; in the heavens will he thunder upon them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the boy ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest.

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah.

and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; the priest took of it all that the flesh-hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came there.

Even before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and he will not accept sodden flesh of thee, but raw.

If the man said to him, They will immediately burn the fat entire, then take as thy soul desires; he would say to him, No, but thou shalt give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.

And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to Jehovah. And they went to their own home.

And Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they lay with the women that served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

And he said to them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil deeds from all this people.

If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was minded to slay them.

And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Did I plainly reveal myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house,

and choose him out of all the tribes of Israel, to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear the ephod before me? and I gave unto the house of thy father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel.

Wherefore do ye trample upon my sacrifice and upon mine oblation which I have commanded in my habitation? And thou honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the primest of all the oblations of Israel my people.

Wherefore Jehovah the God of Israel saith, I said indeed, Thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever. But now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Behold, days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house.

And thou shalt see an oppressor in my habitation, amidst all the good that shall be done to Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever.

And the man of thine whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to cause thine eyes to fail and to grieve thy soul; and all the increase of thy house shall die in their vigour.

And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed continually.

And the boy Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was rare in those days; a vision was not frequent.

And it came to pass at that time, when Eli lay in his place (now his eyes began to grow dim, he could not see),

And he ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call: lie down again. And he went and lay down.

And Jehovah called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call, my son: lie down again.

And Jehovah called again the third time, Samuel! And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that Jehovah was calling the boy.

And Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down; and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Jehovah, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house; I will begin and make an end.

For I have declared to him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he hath known: because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated with sacrifice or oblation for ever.

And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Jehovah. And Samuel feared to declare the vision to Eli.

And Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, Here am I.

And he said, What is the word that he has spoken to thee? I pray thee, keep it not back from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou keep back anything from me of all the word that he spoke to thee.

And Samuel told him all the words, and kept nothing back from him. And he said, It is Jehovah: let him do what is good in his sight.

And all Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, knew that Samuel was established a prophet of Jehovah.

And what Samuel had said happened to all Israel. And Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.

So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who sitteth between the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there by the ark of the covenant of God.

And it came to pass when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth shook.

And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

And when he came, behold, Eli was sitting upon the seat by the way-side watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

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

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.

And the man said to Eli, I am he that came out of the battle, and I have fled to-day out of the battle. And he said, What has taken place, my son?

And 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 said, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.

And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it kill us not, and our people. For there was deadly alarm throughout the city: the hand of God was very heavy there;

Then they said, What is the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? And they said, Five golden hemorrhoids, and five golden mice, the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague is upon them all, and upon your lords.

And ye shall make images of your hemorrhoids, and images of your mice that destroy the land, and give glory to the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

And why will ye harden your heart, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? When he had wrought mightily among them, did they not let them go, and they departed?

and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and villages of the peasantry; and they brought them as far as the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of Jehovah, which is to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemeshite.

And it came to pass, from the day that the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after Jehovah.

And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If ye return to Jehovah with all your heart, put away the strange gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and apply your hearts unto Jehovah, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray Jehovah for you.

And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry to Jehovah our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

And Samuel took a sucking-lamb, and offered it as a whole burnt-offering to Jehovah; and Samuel cried to Jehovah for Israel, and Jehovah answered him.

And the Philistines were subdued, and came no more into the borders of Israel; and the hand of Jehovah was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

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

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah,

and said to him, Behold, thou art become old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now appoint us a king to judge us, like all the nations.

And Jehovah said to 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.

According to all the deeds that 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.

And Samuel spoke all the words of Jehovah to the people that asked of him a king.

And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, on his chariot and among his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots;

and he will take them that he may appoint for himself captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and that they may plough his ground, and reap his harvest, and make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots.

And he will take your daughters for perfumers, and cooks, and bakers.

And your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, the best, will he take and give to his servants.

And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give to his chamberlains and to his servants.

And he will take your bondmen, and your bondwomen, and your comeliest young men, and your asses, and use them for his work.

He will take the tenth of your sheep. And ye shall be his servants.

And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

that we also may be like all the nations; and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and conduct our wars.

And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah.

And he said to him, Behold now, a man of God is in this city, and the man is held in honour; all that he says comes surely to pass. Let us now go thither: perhaps he will shew us the way that we should go.

And the servant answered Saul again and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.

And Saul said to his servant, Well said: come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was.

To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him prince over my people Israel; and he will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me.

And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer: go up before me to the high place, and ye shall eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart.

And as for the asses that thou didst lose three days ago, set not thy heart on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel set? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house?

And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjaminite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? and why dost thou speak such words to me?

And the cook took up the shoulder, and what was on it, and set it before Saul. And he said, Behold that which has been reserved! set it before thee, eat; for against the set time has it been kept for thee, since I said, I will invite the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because Jehovah has anointed thee prince over his inheritance?

When thou goest from me to-day, thou shalt meet two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to thee, The asses are found which thou wentest to seek, and behold, thy father has dismissed the matter of the asses, and is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

And they will ask after thy welfare, and give thee two loaves, which thou shalt receive of their hands.

And the Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to thee, to offer up burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days shalt thou wait, until I come to thee and inform thee what thou shalt do.

And it was so that when he turned his back to go away from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.

And it came to pass, when all that knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

And he said to the children of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you;

but ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your troubles, and have said unto him, Nay, but a king shalt thou set over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your tribes, and by your thousands.

And Samuel caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

Therefore they inquired of Jehovah further, Will the man yet come hither? And Jehovah answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the baggage.