He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about—here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you.”

Then his mother said, “My son, you are blessed by the Lord!”

He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver.”

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God so we will know if we will have a successful journey.”

When they entered Micah’s house and took the carved image overlaid with silver, the ephod, and the household idols, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mobilized the men?”

He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

The Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have something to eat to keep up your strength and then you can go.”

So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself.”

He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, “Please keep up your strength.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.

The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home.”

When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, why not let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here?”

“Come on,” he said, “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

“Peace to you,” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.”

While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t do this horrible thing.

Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt to this day. Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”

Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house.

The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”

But the Israelites had compassion on their brothers, the Benjaminites, and said, “Today a tribe has been cut off from Israel.

The elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”

They said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

They also said, “Look, there’s an annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

She said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May the Lord show faithful love to you as you have shown to the dead and to me.

“No,” they said to her. “We will go with you to your people.”

Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”

Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.”

“The Lord bless you,” they replied.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants.

She bowed with her face to the ground and said to him, “Why are you so kind to notice me, although I am a foreigner?”

“My lord,” she said, “you have been so kind to me, for you have comforted and encouraged your slave, although I am not like one of your female servants.”

Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.”

Ruth told her mother-in-law about the men she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”

Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’”

So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.”

Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find security for you, so that you will be taken care of?

So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.”

Then he said, “May the Lord bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not pursued younger men, whether rich or poor.

So she lay down at his feet until morning but got up while it was still dark. Then Boaz said, “Don’t let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, because he said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

Naomi said, “My daughter, wait until you find out how things go, for he won’t rest unless he resolves this today.”

Boaz went to the gate of the town and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz called him by name and said, “Come over here and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

Then Boaz took 10 men of the town’s elders and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down.

He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you will also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”

So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy back the property yourself.”

Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon.

The elders and all the people who were at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

Then the women said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel.

The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”

“Please, my lord,” she said, “as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.

If that man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you can take whatever you want for yourself,” the servant would reply, “No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force!”

He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? I have heard about your evil actions from all these 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?

“Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel:

‘Although I said
your family and your ancestral house
would walk before Me forever,
the Lord now says, “No longer!”
I will honor those who honor Me,
but those who despise Me will be disgraced.

He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”

Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”

Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy.

The Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that everyone who hears about it will shudder.

On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end.

but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am,” answered Samuel.

Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and He fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.

they panicked. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, nothing like this has happened before.

The man said to Eli, “I’m the one who came from the battle. I fled from there today.”

“What happened, my son?” Eli asked.

As she was dying, the women taking care of her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay attention.

“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “because the ark of God has been captured.”

When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of Israel’s God must not stay here with us, because His hand is strongly against us and our god Dagon.”

The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. It must return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them.

Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.”

The Israelites said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, so that He will save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”

When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the Lord.

He said, “These are the rights of the king who will rule over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots.

The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.

One day the donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the attendants with you and go look for the donkeys.”

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the attendant who was with him, “Come on, let’s go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

“Look,” the attendant said, “there’s a man of God in this city who is highly respected; everything he says is sure to come true. Let’s go there now. Maybe he’ll tell us which way we should go.”

“Suppose we do go,” Saul said to his attendant, “what do we take the man? The food from our packs is gone, and there’s no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

Saul responded, “Am I not a Benjaminite from the smallest of Israel’s tribes and isn’t my clan the least important of all the clans of the Benjaminite tribe? So why have you said something like this to me?”

Then Samuel said to the cook, “Get the portion of meat that I gave you and told you to set aside.”

The cook picked up the thigh and what was attached to it and set it before Saul. Then Samuel said, “Notice that the reserved piece is set before you. Eat it because it was saved for you for this solemn event at the time I said, ‘I’ve invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the attendant to go on ahead of us, but you stay for a while, and I’ll reveal the word of God to you.” So the attendant went on.

Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it out on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Hasn’t the Lord anointed you ruler over His inheritance?

Saul told him, “He assured us the donkeys had been found.” However, Saul did not tell him what Samuel had said about the matter of kingship.

and said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’

But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions. You said to Him, ‘You must set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”

Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among the entire population.”

And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

But some wicked men said, “How can this guy save us?” They despised him and did not bring him a gift, but Saul said nothing.

Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

“Don’t do anything to us for seven days,” the elders of Jabesh said to him, “and let us send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one saves us, we will surrender to you.”

He took a team of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the land of Israel by messengers who said, “This is what will be done to the ox of anyone who doesn’t march behind Saul and Samuel.” As a result, the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out united.

Then the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will come out, and you can do whatever you want to us.”

Afterward, the people said to Samuel, “Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Give us those men so we can kill them!”

Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal, so we can renew the kingship there.”

Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have carefully listened to everything you said to me and placed a king over you.

He said to them, “The Lord is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today that you haven’t found anything in my hand.”

“He is a witness,” they said.

Then Samuel said to the people, “The Lord, who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt, is a witness.

Then they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we abandoned the Lord and worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the power of our enemies, and we will serve You.’