A certain man lived in Ramathaim-zophim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim. He was Jeroham's son Elkanah, the grandson of Elihu and grandson of Tohu, who was the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

Elkanah her husband told her, "Hannah, why are you crying and why don't you eat? Why are you upset? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

Hannah made a vow: "LORD of the Heavenly Armies, if you just look at the misery of your maid servant, remember me, and don't forget your maid servant. If you give your maid servant a son, then I'll give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and a razor is never to touch his head."

Eli told her, "How long will you stay drunk? Put away your wine!"

"No, sir!" Hannah replied. "I'm a deeply troubled woman. I've drunk neither wine nor beer. I've been pouring out my soul in the LORD's presence.

Don't consider your maid servant a worthless woman. Rather, all this time I've been speaking because I'm very anxious and distressed."

"Go in peace," Eli answered. "May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him."

She said, "Let your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

By the time of the next year's sacrifice, Hannah had become pregnant and had borne a son. She named him Samuel because she said, "I asked the LORD for him."

Hannah did not go up because she had told her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I'll take him to appear in the LORD's presence and remain there forever."

"Do what you want," Elkanah told her. "Stay until you have weaned him, only may the LORD bring about what you've said." So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Then, when she had weaned him, she brought him up with her to Shiloh, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh, and the boy was young.

Hannah said, "Sir, as surely as you are alive, I'm the woman who stood before you here praying to the LORD.

I prayed for this boy, and the LORD granted me the request I asked of him.

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.

Then Hannah prayed: "My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is increased by the LORD. I will open my mouth to speak against my enemies, because I rejoice in your deliverance.

Indeed, there is no one holy like the LORD, indeed, there is no one besides you, there is no rock like our God.

Don't continue to talk proudly, and don't speak arrogantly, for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of warriors are shattered, but those who stumble are equipped with strength.

Those who had an abundance of bread now hire themselves out, and those who were hungry hunger no more. While the barren woman gives birth to seven children, she who had many children languishes.

He raises the poor up from the dust, he lifts up the needy from the trash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. Indeed the pillars of the earth belong to the LORD, and he has set the world on them.

He guards the steps of his faithful ones, while the wicked are made silent in darkness. He grants the request of the one who prays. He blesses the year of the righteous. Indeed it's not by strength that a person prevails.

The LORD will shatter his enemies those who contend against him. Who is holy? The one who will thunder against them in the heavens. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, and he will increase the strength of His anointed one."

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men who did not know the LORD.

The custom of the priests with the people was that whenever a person offered a sacrifice, a servant of the priest would come with a three pronged fork in his hand while the meat was boiling, and

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!"

Now Samuel was ministering in the LORD's presence, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.

His mother would make a small robe for him, and she would bring it each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

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.

"Why are you doing these things that I'm hearing about?" he asked his sons, "These reports about your evil deeds are coming from all these people!

No, my sons, I'm not hearing good news being circulated by the LORD's people.

If a person sins against another, God will mediate for him, but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?"

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

that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors' family all the Israeli fire-offerings?

Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I've commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.'

"Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, "I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor's family would walk before me forever,' but now the LORD declares, "Far be it from me! The one who honors me I'll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

The time is coming when I'll cut away at your family and your ancestor's family until there are no old men left in your family.

Distress will settle down to live in your household, and despite all the good that I do for Israel, there will never be an old man in your family forever, and you will never again have an old man in my house.

Any of you whom I don't eliminate from serving at my altar will grow tired from weeping, and their souls will grieve. All the increase of your family will die by violence.

Here's a sign for you your two sons Hophni and Phineas will both die on the same day!

And I'll raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and according to my desire. I'll build for him an enduring house and he will walk before my anointed one forever.

Anyone who remains in your family will come and prostrate themselves before him for a small wage or a loaf of bread and will say, "Please put me in one of the priest's offices so I can eat a piece of bread."'"

Meanwhile the boy Samuel was serving the LORD before Eli. A word from the LORD was rare in those days, and visions were infrequent.

The LORD called out to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."

He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am! You called me." "I didn't call you," Eli said. "Go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

Then the LORD again called out, "Samuel!" So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, "Here I am! You called me."

He said, "I didn't call you, my son. Go back and lie down." Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD and had not yet had the word of the LORD revealed to him.

Then the LORD called out to Samuel again a third time, and he got up, went to Eli, and said, "Here I am! You called me."

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.

"Look," the LORD told Samuel. "I'm about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears it tingle.

I'll fulfill every promise that I've spoken concerning Eli's family, from beginning to end.

I've told him that I'm about to judge his family forever because of the iniquity that he knew about. His sons committed blasphemy and he did not rebuke them.

Therefore I've sworn concerning Eli's family that the iniquity of his family is not to be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."

Then Eli called Samuel: "Samuel, my son." He said, "Here I am."

Eli said, "What did the LORD say to you? Please don't conceal anything from me. May God do this to you and even more if you conceal from me one word of all that he spoke to you."

The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.

When the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why did the LORD defeat us today when we fought the Philistines? Let's take the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so it may go with us and deliver us from the power of our enemies."

So the people sent word to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above the cherubim.

Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. When the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a great shout and the earth reverberated!

How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.

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!"

The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; each of them fled to his own tent. It was a very great slaughter, and 30,000 soldiers of Israel died.

That very same day, a man who was a descendant of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh, with his garments torn and dirt on his head.

When he arrived, Eli was sitting there on a seat beside the road, watching because his heart trembled for the Ark of God. The man went into the town to give the report, and the whole town cried out.

The man told Eli, "I've just come from the battle line, and I escaped from the battle today." He asked, "What happened, my son?"

The messenger answered, "Israel fled from the Philistines and the people suffered a great defeat as well. Moreover, your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead, and the Ark of God was captured."

As she was about to die, the women standing around her said, "Don't be afraid! You've given birth to a son." But she did not respond or pay attention.

This is why neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

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.

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.

The people who did not die were afflicted with tumors of the groin, and the cry of the town went up to heaven.

The Philistines summoned the priests and diviners and asked, "What should we do about the Ark of the LORD? Tell us how we should send it back to its place."

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?

"So make a new cart, and take two milk cows that have never had a yoke on them. Hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves away from them and back to the house.

Take the Ark of the LORD, put it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering in a box beside it. Then send it away and let it go.

Keep watching it. If it goes up along the road to its own territory to Beth-shemesh, it's the LORD who has done this great evil to us. But if it does not, then we will know that he wasn't pressuring us. It happened to us as a natural event."

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.

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.

These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.

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.

The men of Beth-shemesh asked themselves, "Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? And to whom will the Ark go from here?"

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."

A long time passed it was twenty years from the time the Ark came to reside in Kiriath-jearim, and all the house of Israel mourned because of the LORD.

Then Samuel told the whole house of Israel, "If you're returning to the LORD with all your heart, then remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, direct your hearts back to the LORD, and serve him only. Then he will deliver you from the control of the Philistines."

Samuel said, "Bring all Israel together at Mizpah, and I'll pray to the LORD on your behalf."

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.

Then Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Samuel cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

The men of Israel went out from Mizpah, pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as a point below Beth-car.

Then Samuel took a stone, placed it between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer. He said, "The LORD has helped us this far."

He went on a circuit each year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all those places.

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.