And there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim from the hills of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.

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 she vowed a vow and said, O, Lord of Hosts, if You will indeed look upon the affliction of Your handmaid and remember me, and not forget Your handmaid, but will give to Your 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 the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to Jehovah the yearly sacrifice and his vow.

He keeps the feet of his saints, and the wicked are silenced in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

And the priests' custom with the people was: If any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand.

Yea, before they burned 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 from you, but raw!

And if any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat at once, and then take as your soul desires, then he would answer him, No! But you shall give now! And if not, I will take it by force.

And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah. For men despised the offering of Jehovah.

If one man sins against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sins against Jehovah, who shall plead for him? But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because Jehovah desired to kill them.

And the child Samuel went on growing both in stature and in goodness, both with Jehovah and also with men.

And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, So says Jehovah: Did I plainly appear to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?

Behold, the days come when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that no old man shall be in your house.

And you shall see an adversary in My house, in all the good which he does with Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

And that man of yours whom I shall not cut off from My altar, shall be left in order to make your eyes fail, and to grieve your heart. And all the increase of your house shall die young men.

And the Philistines put themselves in order against Israel. And the battle was joined. And Israel was beaten before the Philistines. And they killed about four thousand men of the army in the field.

Be strong and fight like men, O, Philistines, so that you may not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men and fight!

And a man of Benjamin ran out of the army. And he came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with earth upon his head.

And he came in, and behold, Eli sat on a 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.

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

And the man said to Eli, I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, How did the matter go, my son?

And it happened when he spoke of the ark of God, he fell backward off the seat, 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.

And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so. And they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us. For His hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god.

And it happened after they had carried it around, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great destruction. And He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and hemorrhoids broke forth in them.

And the men that did not die were stricken with the hemorrhoids. And the cry of the city went up to the heavens.

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

And the Levites took down the ark of Jehovah and the box in it, in which 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 to Jehovah.

And He struck the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah. He even struck seventy among the people, including fifty chief men. And the people lamented because Jehovah had struck the people with a great slaughter.

And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Jehovah God? And to whom shall He go up from us?

And the men of Kirjath-jearim came and brought up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill. And they sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah.

And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them as far as below Beth-car.

And he will take your male slaves and your slave girls, and your finest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

And Jehovah said to Samuel, Listen to their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Every man go to his city.

And there was a man of Benjamin, and his name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

And he had a son named Saul, a young and handsome one. And there was not a man among the sons of Israel more handsome than he, being taller than any of the people from his shoulder and upward.

And he said to him, Behold now, in this city is a man of God, and an honorable man. All that he says surely comes to pass. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can declare our way to us, how to go.

Then Saul said to his young man, But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?

And the young man answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have found the fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.

(In the old days in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said this: Come, let us go to the seer, for the prophet of today was before called a seer.)

And Saul said to his young man, Your word is good. Come, let us go. So they went into the city where the man of God was.

Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin. And you shall anoint him to be leader over My people Israel, so that he may save My people out of the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked on My people because their cry has come to Me.

And when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah said to him, Behold the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall reign over My people.

And Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the room, and gave them a place at the head of the invited ones, about thirty persons.

When you have departed from me today, then you shall find two men by Rachel's tomb in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to you, The asses which you went to seek are found. And, lo, your father has quit caring for the asses and sorrows for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

And you shall go forward from there, and you shall come to the great tree of Tabor. And there you shall meet three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.

And the spirit of Jehovah will come powerfully on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.

And a man from there answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?

And Saul's uncle said to him and to his young man, Where did you go? And he said, To look for the asses. And when we saw that they were nowhere, we came to Samuel.

And they inquired of Jehovah further, Has the man yet come here? And Jehovah answered, Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage.

And Saul also went home to Gibeah. And a band of men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.

But the sons of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present. But he was silent.

And Nahash the Ammonite came up and camped against Jabesh-gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.

And the elders of Jabesh said to him, Bear with us seven days, so that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then if there is no man to save us, we will come out to you.

And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field. And Saul said, What is wrong with the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.

And he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of Jehovah fell on the people, and they came out as one man.

And when he numbered them in Bezek, the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

And they said to the messengers that came, So shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, Tomorrow by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help. And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.

And the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.

And the people said to Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men so that we may put them to death.

And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day, for today Jehovah has worked salvation in Israel.

And all the people went to Gilgal, and made Saul king before Jehovah in Gilgal, and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before Jehovah. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

And they said, You have not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither have you taken from any man's hand.

then Saul chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And of the rest of the people he sent each man to his tent.

And the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight place (for the people were distressed). And the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.

But now your kingdom shall not stand. Jehovah has sought Him a man after His own heart, and Jehovah has appointed him to be leader over His people, because you have not kept what Jehovah commanded you.

And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men.

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his plowshare, and his mattock, and his axe, and his coulter.

And the day came that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison which is on the other side. But he did not tell his father.

And Saul stayed in the edge of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree in Migron. And the people who were with him were about six hundred men.

And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. It may be that Jehovah will work for us. For there is no restraint to Jehovah, to save by many or by few.

And Jonathan said, Behold, we will go over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.

And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, Come up to us, and we will teach you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for Jehovah has delivered them into the hand of Israel.

And this was the first blow, when Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck about twenty men in about half of a furrow of an acre of a field.

And Saul and all the people with him gathered, and they went to the battle. And, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, a very great panic.

And all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in mount Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, even they also followed them in the battle.

And the men of Israel were distressed on that day. For Saul had commanded the people, saying, Cursed is the man that eats food until evening, so that I may be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.

And all the men of the land came into a forest, and there was honey on the ground.

And one from the people answered and said, Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed is the man who eats food this day. And the people were weary.

And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, Let each one bring his ox here, and each man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat. And do not sin against Jehovah in eating with the blood. And each man of all the people brought his ox in his hand that night, and killed them there.

And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night and spoil them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do all that seems good to you. Then the priest said, Let us draw near here to God.

For, as Jehovah lives, He who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered.

And the war was heavy against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any brave man, he took him to himself.

Now go and strike Amalek, and completely destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent, for He is not a man that He should repent.

But Jehovah said to Samuel, Do not look on his face, nor on his height, because I have refused him. For He does not see as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.

Let our lord now command his servants before you to seek out a man who knows to play on a harp. And it shall be, when the evil spirit from God is on you, then he shall play with his hand, and it shall be well with you.

And Saul said to his servants, Now look for me a man who can play well, and bring him to me.

And one of the servants answered and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, and a mighty warrior and a man of battle, and prudent in speech. And he is a person of good form, and Jehovah is with him.

And Saul and the men of Israel had gathered and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in order against the Philistines.

And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why have you come out to set your battle in order? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants to Saul? Choose a man for you, and let him come down to me.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man, and we will fight together.

And David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem-judah named Jesse. And to him were eight sons. And the man was old among men in the days of Saul.

And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.

And he was speaking with them. And, behold, the champion man, named Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to these words. And David heard.

And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they ran from him and were very much afraid.

And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And it shall be, the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.

And David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away this shame from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

And the people answered him in this way, saying, So shall it be done to the man who kills him.