Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite of the hill-country of Ephraim, named Elkanah; he was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite:

And he had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah: and Peninnah was the mother of children, but Hannah had no children.

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

So after they had taken food and wine in the guest room, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was seated by the pillars of the doorway of the Temple of the Lord.

Now while she was a long time in prayer before the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth.

For Hannah's prayer came from her heart, and though her lips were moving she made no sound: so it seemed to Eli that she was overcome with wine.

And she said, May your servant have grace in your eyes. So the woman went away, and took part in the feast, and her face was no longer sad.

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.

Then when she had done so, she took him with her, with a three-year old ox and an ephah of meal and a skin full of wine, and took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh: now the child was still very young.

And she said, O my lord, as your soul is living, my lord, I am that woman who was making a prayer to the Lord here by your side:

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

And the priests' way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest's servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth;

And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked.

And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings.

But Samuel did the work of the Lord's house, while he was a child, dressed in a linen ephod.

Now Eli was very old; and he had news from time to time of what his sons were doing to all Israel.

If one man does wrong to another, God will be his judge: but if a man's sin is against the Lord, who will take up his cause? But they gave no attention to the voice of their father, for it was the Lord's purpose to send destruction on them.

Now the young Samuel was the servant of the Lord before Eli. In those days the Lord kept his word secret from men; there was no open vision.

And at that time, when Eli was resting in his place, (now his eyes were becoming clouded so that he was not able to see,)

And the light of God was still burning, while Samuel was sleeping in the Temple of the Lord where the ark of God was,

And for the third time the Lord said Samuel's name. And he got up and went to Eli and said, Here am I; for you certainly said my name. Then it was clear to Eli that the voice which had said the child's name was the Lord's.

And Samuel kept where he was, not moving till the time came for opening the doors of the house of God in the morning. And fear kept him from giving Eli an account of his vision.

And Samuel became older, and the Lord was with him and let not one of his words be without effect.

And it was clear to all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba that Samuel had been made a prophet of the Lord.

And the Lord was seen again in Shiloh; for the Lord gave to Samuel in Shiloh the revelation of his word.

And the Philistines put their forces in order against Israel, and the fighting was hard, and Israel was overcome by the Philistines, who put to the sword about four thousand of their army 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.

So the Philistines went to the fight, and Israel was overcome, and every man went in flight to his tent: and great was the destruction, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel were put to the sword.

And the ark of God was taken; and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were put to the sword.

And when he came, Eli was seated by the wayside watching: and in his heart was fear for the ark of God. And when the man came into the town and gave the news, there was a great outcry.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and near the time when she would give birth; and when she had the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, her pains came on her suddenly and she gave birth.

And when she was very near death the women who were with her said, Have no fear, for you have given birth to a son. But she made no answer and gave no attention to it.

And she gave the child the name of Ichabod, saying, The glory has gone from Israel: because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place.

But the hand of the Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and he sent disease on them through all the country of Ashdod.

And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel be with us, for his hand is hard on us and on Dagon our god.

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.

But after they had taken it away, the hand of the Lord was stretched out against the town for its destruction: and the signs of disease came out on all the men of the town, small and great.

So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.

Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.

If it goes by the land of Israel to Beth-shemesh, then this great evil is his work; but if not, then we may be certain that the evil was not his doing, but was the working of chance.

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.

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.

And the ark was in Kiriath-jearim for a long time, as much as twenty years: and all Israel was searching after the Lord with weeping.

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.

And while Samuel was offering the burned offering, the Philistines came near for the attack on Israel; but at the thunder of the Lord's voice that day the Philistines were overcome with fear, and they gave way before Israel.

So the Philistines were overcome, and did not come into the country of Israel again: and all the days of Samuel the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.

And the towns which the Philistines had taken were given back to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and all the country round them Israel made free from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

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

And his base was at Ramah, where his house was; there he was judge of Israel and there he made an altar to the Lord.

Now when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

The name of his first son was Joel and the name of his second Abijah: they were judges in Beer-sheba.

But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.

Now there was a man of Benjamin named Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a man of wealth.

He had a son named Saul, a specially good-looking young man; there was no one better-looking among the children of Israel: he was taller by a head than any other of the people.

And when they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, Come, let us go back, or my father may give up caring about the asses and be troubled about us.

(In the past in Israel, when a man went to get directions from God, he said, Come let us go to the Seer, for he who now is named Prophet was in those days given the name of Seer.)

Then Saul said to his servant, You have said well; come, let us go. So they went to the town where the man of God was.

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.

So Samuel made all the tribes of Israel come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

Then he made the tribe of Benjamin come near by families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and from them, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken: but when they went in search of him he was nowhere to be seen.

So they put another question to the Lord, Is the man present here? And the answer of the Lord was, He is keeping himself from view among the goods.

So they went quickly and made him come out; and when he took his place among the people, he was taller by a head than any of the people.

And the people said to Samuel, Who was it who said, Is Saul to be our king? give the men up, so that we may put them to death.

And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was coming against you, you said to me, No more of this; we will have a king for our ruler: when the Lord your God was your king.

But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord, but go against his orders, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your king for your destruction, as it was against your fathers.

For the Lord will not give his people up, because of the honour of his name; for it was the Lord's pleasure to make of you a people for himself.

And Jonathan made an attack on the armed force of the Philistines stationed at Gibeah; and news was given to the Philistines that the Hebrews were turned against them. And Saul had a horn sounded through all the land,

And all Israel had the news that Saul had made an attack on the Philistines, and that Israel was bitterly hated by the Philistines. And the people came together after Saul to Gilgal.

And a great number of the people had gone over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people went after him shaking in fear.

And when the burned offering was ended, Samuel came; and Saul went out to see him and to give him a blessing.

And Samuel said to Saul, You have done a foolish thing: you have not kept the rules which the Lord your God gave you; it was the purpose of the Lord to make your authority over Israel safe for ever.

And Saul, with Jonathan his son and the people who were with them, was waiting in Geba in the land of Benjamin: but the tents of the Philistines were in Michmash.

Now there was no iron-worker in all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, For fear the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears:

So on the day of the fight at Michmash, not a sword or a spear was to be seen in the hands of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan: only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Now one day Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who was with him, looking after his arms, Come, let us go over to the Philistine force over there. But he said nothing to his father.

And Saul was still waiting in the farthest part of Geba, under the fruit-tree in Migron: there were about six hundred men with him;

Now between the narrow roads over the mountains by which Jonathan was making his way to the Philistines' forces, there was a sharp overhanging rock on one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: one was named Bozez and the other Seneh.

And there was great fear in the tents and in the field and among all the men of the armed force, and the attackers were shaking with fear; even the earth was moved with a great shaking and there was a fear as from God.

Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Let everyone be numbered and let us see who has gone from us. And when they had been numbered, it was seen that Jonathan and his servant were not there.

Now while Saul was talking to the priest, the noise in the tents of the Philistines became louder and louder; and Saul said to the priest, Take back your hand.

And Saul and all the people with him came together and went forward to the fight: and every man's sword was turned against the man at his side, and there was a very great noise.

And all the people were with Saul, about twenty thousand men, and the fight was general through all the hill-country of Ephraim; but Saul made a great error that day, by putting the people under an oath, saying, Let that man be cursed who takes food before evening comes and I have given punishment to those who are against me. So the people had not a taste of food.

And there was honey on the face of the field, and all the people came to the honey, the bees having gone from it;

But Jonathan, having no knowledge of the oath his father had put on the people, stretching out the rod which was in his hand, put the end of it in the honey, and put it to his mouth; then his eyes were made bright.

Then it was said to Saul, See, the people are sinning against the Lord, taking the blood with the flesh. And he said to those who gave him the news, Now let a great stone be rolled to me here.

And Saul put up an altar to the Lord: this was the first altar which he put up to the Lord.

And Saul said, Give your decision between my son Jonathan and me. And Jonathan was taken.

Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan and Ishvi and Malchi-shua; and these are the names of his daughters: the older was named Merab and the younger Michal;

The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz; the captain of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, brother of Saul's father.

All through the life of Saul there was bitter war against the Philistines; and whenever Saul saw any strong man or any good fighting man, he kept him near himself.

But Saul and the people did not put Agag to death, and they kept the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fat beasts and the lambs, and whatever was good, not desiring to put them to the curse: but everything which was bad and of no use they put to the curse.

It is no longer my pleasure for Saul to be king; for he is turned back from going in my ways, and has not done my orders. And Samuel was very sad, crying to the Lord in prayer all night.

And early in the morning he got up and went to Saul; and word was given to Samuel that Saul had come to Carmel and put up a pillar, and had gone from there down to Gilgal.

And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, May the blessing of the Lord be with you: I have done what was ordered by the Lord.

And when Samuel was turning round to go away, Saul took the skirt of his robe in his hand, and the cloth came away.

And Samuel said, As your sword has made women without children, so now your mother will be without children among women. And Agag was cut up by Samuel, bone from bone, before the Lord in Gilgal.

And Samuel never saw Saul again till the day of his death; but Samuel was sorrowing for Saul: and it was no longer the Lord's pleasure for Saul to be king over Israel.