1 Samuel 7:3–11

³And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If with all your heart you are turning to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and Ashtoreths^c from your midst. Commit your hearts to Yahweh and serve him alone. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴So the Israelites^d removed the Baals^e and the Ashtoreths, and they served Yahweh alone.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” ⁶So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh!” So Samuel judged the Israelites^f at Mizpah. ⁷Now when the Philistines heard that the Israelites^g had gathered at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the Israelites^h heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.^{i 8}Then the Israelites^j said to Samuel, “You must not cease^k from crying out to Yahweh our God, so that he will deliver us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹So Samuel took a single nursing lamb^l and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Then Samuel cried out to Yahweh on behalf of Israel, and Yahweh answered him. ¹⁰While^m Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near for the battle against Israel. But Yahweh thundered against the Philistines with a great noise on that day and threw them into confusion so that they were defeated before Israel. ¹¹Then the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and they struck them down as far as below Beth Car.