There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

Year after year this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord's priests.

And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

But to Hannah he gave one part, though Hannah was very dear to him, but the Lord had not let her have children.

Being grieved, her distress grieved her so that she was moved because Jehovah shut up about her womb

So it happened year after year, whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, Peninnah provoked her; so she wept and would not eat.

On one occasion in Shiloh, after they had finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up. (Now at the time Eli the priest was sitting in his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple.)

She was very upset as she prayed to the Lord, and she was weeping uncontrollably.

As she continued praying to the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth.

Now Hannah was speaking from her heart. Although her lips were moving, her voice was inaudible. Eli therefore thought she was drunk.

But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman with a despairing spirit. I have not been drinking wine or any intoxicating drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.

And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow in worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.

And her husband Elkanah said to her, Do whatever seems right to you, but not till you have taken him from the breast; only may the Lord do as he has said. So the woman, waiting there, gave her son milk till he was old enough to be taken from the breast.

Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, an ephah of flour, and a container of wine. She brought him to the Lord's house at Shiloh, even though he was young.

And she said - Pardon, my lord! By the life of thy soul, my lord, - I, am the woman who was standing near thee here, praying unto Yahweh:

My prayer was for this child; and the Lord has given him to me in answer to my request:

And Hannah will pray and say, My heart rejoiced in Jehovah, my horn was lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth was enlarged over mine enemies; for I was glad in thy salvation.

Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of Eli the priest.

But the sons of Eli were unthrifty children, and knew not the LORD. For the manner of the priests with the people was:

Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest's attendant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand.

Even before they burned the fat, the priest's attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, "Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won't take boiled meat from you, but only raw."

The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord's sight, for they treated the Lord's offering with contempt.

Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod.

And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah will set up to thee seed of this woman for the loan which was lent to Jehovah. And they went to his place.

So the Lord graciously attended to Hannah, and she was able to conceive and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up at the Lord's sanctuary.

Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to have sex with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

If one man does wrong and sins against another, God will intercede (arbitrate) for him; but if a man does wrong to the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.

Now the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.

A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Didn’t I reveal Myself to your ancestral house when it was in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh’s palace?

And it was all being left in thy house shall go to worship to him for a piece of silver and a round of bread; and he said, Add me to one of the priesthoods to eat a morsel of bread.

Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli's supervision. Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

Eli's eyes had begun to fail, so that he was unable to see well. At that time he was lying down in his place,

and the lamp of God had not yet been extinguished. Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord as well; the ark of God was also there.

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.

Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me!" Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the boy, so Eli told Samuel, "Go lie down, and then if he calls you, answer, "Speak, LORD, because your servant is listening.'" Then Samuel went and lay down.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever. For the wickedness which he knoweth, how his sons are ungracious, and he was not wroth therewith.

So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord's house. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

“What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that He told you.”

Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. None of his prophecies fell to the ground unfulfilled.

All Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba realized that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

Then the Lord again appeared in Shiloh, for it was in Shiloh that the Lord had revealed himself to Samuel through the word of the Lord.

And so it was, when the word of Samuel had reached all Israel, that Israel went forth to meet the Philistines in battle, and they encamped near Eben-ezer, while, the Philistines, encamped in Aphek.

The Philistines arranged their forces to fight Israel. As the battle spread out, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

And when the ark of the Lord's agreement came into the tent-circle, all Israel gave a great cry, so that the earth was sounding with it.

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 the LORD was come into the camp.

And the Philisteim will be afraid, for they said, God came into the camp. And they will say, Wo to us! for at was not as this yesterday, the third day.

So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle.

The ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were killed.

On that day a Benjaminite ran from the battle lines and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn and dirt was on his head.

When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was sitting in his chair watching by the side of the road, for he was very worried about the ark of God. As the man entered the city to give his report, the whole city cried out.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; he was unable to see.

And the man will say to Eli, I came from the array, and I fled from the array this day; And he will say, What was the word, my son?

The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and also there was a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her.

As she was dying, the women who were there with her said, "Don't be afraid! You have given birth to a son!" But she did not reply or pay any attention.

And 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.

She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.”

When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.

But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon's body was left intact.

But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked both us and our god Dagon!"

So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.

And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.

Then sent they the ark of God to Ekron, - and so it was, when the ark of God entered Ekron, that the Ekronites made outcry, saying - They have brought round unto me the ark of the God of Israel, to slay me, and my people!

So they assembled all the leaders of the Philistines and said, "Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won't kill us and our people!" The terror of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there.

And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.

"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.

But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident."

And the cows took the straight way, by the road to Beth-shemesh; they went by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, and the sound of their voices was clear on the road; and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the edge of Beth-shemesh.

The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.

The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.

The five leaders of the Philistines watched what was happening and then returned to Ekron on the same day.

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

But the Lord sent destruction on seventy men of the people of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark of the Lord; and great was the sorrow of the people for the destruction which the Lord had sent on them.

It was quite a long time -- some twenty years in all -- that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people of Israel longed for the Lord.

So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.

As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by Israel.

So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

And Samuel was judge of Israel all the days of his life.

He used to go annually on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.

Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

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

But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person.

He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "Come on, let's head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!"

(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)

So Saul said to his servant, "That's a good idea! Come on. Let's go." So they went to the town where the man of God was.

So they went up to the town. As they were heading for the middle of the town, Samuel was coming in their direction to go up to the high place.

So the cook picked up the leg and brought it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel said, "What was kept is now set before you! Eat, for it has been kept for you for this meeting time, from the time I said, 'I have invited the people.'" So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

And when they had come down from the high place into the town, where a bed was made ready for Saul, he went to rest.

They got up early [the next day]; and at dawn Samuel called Saul [who was sleeping] on the roof, saying, “Get up, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside.