1 Samuel 7:3–11

³Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “^aIf you return to the Lord with all your heart, ^bremove the foreign gods and the ^cAshtaroth from among you and ^ddirect your hearts to the Lord 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 the Lord alone.

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

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

⁷Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, ^athey were afraid of the Philistines.

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

⁹Samuel took ^aa suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and ^bthe Lord answered him.

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

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