1 Samuel 6–8

CHAPTER 6

The Ark Returned to Israel

¹Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the ¹fields of the Philistines seven months.

²And ^athe Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Make us know ¹how we shall send it to its place.”

³So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, ^ado not send it empty; but you shall surely ^breturn to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not turned away from you.”

⁴Then they said, “What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden ^atumors and five golden mice ^baccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of ¹you and on your lords.

⁵“So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that bring the land to ruin, and ^ayou shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ^bHe will ease His hand from you, ^cyour gods, and your land.

⁶“Why then do you ¹harden your hearts ^aas the Egyptians and Pharaoh ²hardened their hearts? When He had abused them, ^bdid they not allow ³the people to go, and they went?

⁷“So now, take and ^amake a new cart and two milch cows on which there ^bhas never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them.

⁸“And take the ark of Yahweh and place it on the cart; and put ^athe articles of gold which you return to Him as ^ba guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go.

⁹“See, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ^aBeth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then ^bwe will know that it was not His hand that smote us; it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰Then the men did so and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

¹¹And they put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, as well as the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors.

¹²And the cows took the straight way in the ¹direction of ^aBeth-shemesh; they went along ^bthe highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it.

¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there, and a large stone was there; and they split the wood of the cart and ^aoffered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

^15aAnd the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to Yahweh.

¹⁶So the ^afive lords of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron that day.

^17aNow these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;

¹⁸and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^aboth of fortified cities and of country villages. ^bThe large ¹stone on which they set the ark of Yahweh is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

^19aThen He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.

²⁰And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “^aWho is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?”

²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^aKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come down and take it up to you.”

CHAPTER 7

¹And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and brought the ark of Yahweh up and ^abrought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill and set apart Eleazar his son as holy in order to keep the ark of Yahweh.

²Now it happened from the day when the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; it was twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh.

Samuel Judges Israel

³Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “^aIf you are to return to Yahweh with all your heart, then ^bremove the foreign gods and the ^cAshtaroth from among you and ^dset your hearts toward Yahweh and ^eserve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served Yahweh alone.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to ^aMizpah, and ^bI will pray to Yahweh for you.”

⁶And they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and ^apoured it out before Yahweh and ^bfasted on that day and said there, “^cWe have sinned against Yahweh.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷Then the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah. And the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. Then the sons of Israel heard it and ^awere afraid of the Philistines.

⁸So the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “^aDo not cease to cry out to Yahweh our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁹And Samuel took ^aa suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh; and Samuel cried out to Yahweh for Israel, and ^bYahweh answered him.

¹⁰Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But ^aYahweh thundered with a great ¹thunder on that day against the Philistines and ^bconfused them, so that they were ²defeated before Israel.

¹¹So the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down as far as below Beth-car.

¹²Then Samuel ^atook a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and he named it ¹Ebenezer. And he said, “Thus far Yahweh has helped us.”

^13aSo the Philistines were subdued, and ^bthey did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of Yahweh was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and ^athe Amorites.

¹⁵Thus Samuel ^ajudged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶And he used to go annually on circuit to ^aBethel and ^bGilgal and ^cMizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.

¹⁷But his return would be to ^aRamah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he ^bbuilt there an altar to Yahweh.

CHAPTER 8

Israel Tells Samuel to Appoint a King

¹And it happened when Samuel was old that ^ahe appointed his sons judges over Israel.

²The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in ^aBeersheba.

³But his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after greedy gain and ^atook bribes and caused justice to turn aside.

⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^aRamah;

⁵and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^aappoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

⁶But the thing was ^aevil in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^bSamuel prayed to Yahweh.

⁷Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for ^athey have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

⁸“Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.

⁹“So now, listen to their voice; ^ahowever, you shall solemnly ¹testify to them and tell them of ^bthe ²custom of the king who will reign over them.”

The People Refuse Samuel’s Words

¹⁰So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to ^athe people who had asked of him a king.

¹¹And he said, “^aThis will be the ¹custom of the king who will reign over you: ^bhe will take your sons and appoint them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and ^cthey will run before his chariots.

¹²“^aAnd he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to ¹do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

¹³“He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.

¹⁴“^aHe will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his ¹servants.

¹⁵“He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.

¹⁶“He will also take your male slaves and your female slaves and your best young men and your donkeys and ¹use them for his work.

¹⁷“He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

¹⁸“Then ^ayou will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^bYahweh will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹Nevertheless, the people ^arefused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us,

^20athat we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹So Samuel heard all the words of the people, and ^ahe repeated them in the hearing of Yahweh.

²²Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “^aListen to their voice and ¹appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”