Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

but to Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her womb.

Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

She vowed a vow, and said, "LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head."

So Eli said to her, "How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you."

And Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.

Do not count your handmaid as a worthless woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my distress and my anguish."

Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him."

She said, "Let your handmaid find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad any more.

It happened, when the time had come, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked him of the LORD."

But Hannah did not go up; for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever. I will offer him as a Nazirite forever, all the days of his life."

And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems good in your eyes. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish his word." So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year old bull, and one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was young.

She said, "Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD.

For this child I prayed; and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him.

Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is lent to the LORD." He worshiped the LORD there.

Hannah prayed, and said: "My heart exults in the LORD. My horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is no one as holy as the LORD, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.

"Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth, For the LORD is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.

"The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Even the barren has borne seven, and she who has many children languishes.

Those who strive with the LORD shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. "The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed."

The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;

and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, "Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw."

If the man said to him, "Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires"; then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force."

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.

Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, "The LORD give you seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of the LORD." They went to their own home.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

He said to them, "Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.

No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear; you make the LORD's people disobey.

If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him?" Notwithstanding, they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD intended to kill them.

A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, I plainly revealed myself to the house of your father, when they were slaves in Egypt to the house of Pharaoh.

And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me. And I gave to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire.

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?'

"Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.' But now the LORD says, 'Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

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

You shall see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

The man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall consume your eyes, and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age.

"'This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall both die.

I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before my anointed forever.

It shall happen, that everyone who is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, "Please put me into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread."'"

that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am."

He ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for you called me." He said, "I did not call; lie down again." He went and lay down.

The LORD called yet again, "Samuel." Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for you called me." He answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."

The LORD called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for you called me." Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.

Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD; for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle.

In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons were cursing God, and he did not restrain them.

Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be removed with sacrifice nor offering forever."

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

He said, "What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you."

All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.

So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who sits above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, 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 shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.

The Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." They said, "Woe to us. For there has not been such a thing before.

Woe to us. Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight."

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.

There ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with earth on his head.

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

He who brought the news answered, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not be afraid; for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer, neither did she regard it.

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day.

But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the Ashdodites, and he ravaged them and afflicted Ashdod and its territory with tumors. And in the midst of their country mice multiplied, and there was a great terror of death in the city.

They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" They answered, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath." So they brought the ark of the God of Israel.

And it happened after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great confusion: and he struck the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors broke out on them.

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

The men who did not die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Show us with which we shall send it to its place."

They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you."

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

Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall 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.

Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

"Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart, and two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them;

and take the ark of the LORD, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by its side; and send it away, that it may go.

And watch; if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it was a chance that happened to us."

The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the territory of Beth Shemesh.

The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to the LORD.

These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to the LORD: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, he struck of the people fifty thousand seventy men; and the people mourned, because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.

The men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? To whom shall he go up from us?"

Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you do return to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to the LORD, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to the LORD."

They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the LORD: and Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel; and the LORD answered him.

As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "The LORD helped us until now."

and they said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."

But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." Samuel prayed to the LORD.

The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you.

Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them."

Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked of him a king.

He said, "This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots;

He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you shall be his servants.

You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."

But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have a king over us,