Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the agent of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him from where he was, neither did he tell me his name,

And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the agent of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

And the agent of LORD said to Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread, and if thou will make ready a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to LORD. For Manoah did not know that he was the agent of LORD.

But the agent of LORD appeared no more to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the agent of LORD.

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of LORD, for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.

And after a while he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

And the Spirit of LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes [of raiment] to those who declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he

But Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of LORD came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.

And he was very thirsty, and called on LORD, and said, Thou have given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.

But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out there. And when he had drunk his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

[And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they encompassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, [Not] till morning light, then we will kill hi

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Now she had an ambush abiding in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with it, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And the ambushment was abiding in the inner chamber. And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death.

And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free, but he knew not that LORD was departed from him.

However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, who beheld while Samson made sport.

And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

And when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it a graven image and a molten image. And it was in the house of Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for them an inheritance to dwell in, for to that day [their] inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.

Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt in security, according to the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure, for there was none in the land possessing authority, that mi

And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man, and it was in the valley that lays by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt in it.

And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was Laish at first.

So they set up for them Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah.

And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father's house to Bethlehem-judah, and was there the space of four months.

But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem). And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine was also with him.

When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

And they turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And he went in, and sat down in the street of the city, for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge.

And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites.

Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold.

And he said to her, Up, and let us be going, but there was no answering. Then he took her up upon the donkey, and the man rose up, and got to his place.

And it was so, that all who saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak.

Then all the sons of Israel went out. And the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to LORD at Mizpah.

(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?

And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

And the sons of Israel asked of LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

And there came opposite Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe, but they knew not that evil was close upon them.

Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushment was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left, and her two sons.

And they took wives for them of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelt there about ten years.

And Mahlon and Chilion died, both of them, and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband.

And she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.

So those two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and [the women] said, Is this Naomi?

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her chance was to land on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabite damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left of it.

So she gleaned in the field until evening. And she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

And she took it up, and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was satisfied.

Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the threshing-floor. But do not make thyself known to the man until he shall have done eating and drinking.

And when Boaz had eaten and drank, and his heart was merry, he went to lay down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid down.

And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was startled, and turned himself, and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

And he said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's.

Now this was [the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: A man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor. And this was the [manner of] attestation in Israel.

And Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

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, and Ephraimite.

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

So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon his seat by the door-post of the temple of LORD.

And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to LORD, and wept much.

Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.

And she said, Let thy handmaid find favor in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and ate, and her countenance was no more [sad].

And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of LORD in Shiloh, and the child was young.

And 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 flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand,

And the sin of the young men was very great before LORD, for the men despised the offering of LORD.

And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, LORD give thee seed by this woman for the petition which was asked of LORD. And 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 assembled at the door of the tent of meeting.

And the child Samuel served LORD before Eli. And the word of LORD was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision.

And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see),

and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down in the temple of LORD where the ark of God was,

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

And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of LORD. And Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision.

And Samuel grew, and LORD was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground.

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

And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines; and they killed of the army in the field about four thousand men.

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

And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

And when he came, lo, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see.

And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty year

And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth, fo

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

And when those of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

And when they arose early on the morning of the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of LORD, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off upon the threshold. Only [the

But the hand of LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with tumors, even Ashdod and the borders of it.

And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is hard upon us, and upon Dagon our god.