1 Samuel 6–8

The Ark of God Is Sent Home

6The Philistines kept the Ark of God in their land seven months. ²Then they called for their priests and magicians and said, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back home!”

³The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it back empty. You must give a penalty offering. If you are then healed, you will know that it was because of the Ark that you had such trouble.”

⁴The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”

They answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin and five gold models of rats. The number of models must match the number of Philistine kings, because the same sickness has come on you and your kings. ⁵Make models of the growths and the rats that are ruining the country, and give honor to Israel’s God. Then maybe he will stop being so hard on you, your gods, and your land. ⁶Don’t be stubborn like the king of Egypt and the Egyptians. After God punished them terribly, they let the Israelites leave Egypt.

⁷“You must build a new cart and get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never had yokes on their necks. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take the calves home, away from their mothers. ⁸Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart and the gold models for the penalty offering in a box beside the Ark. Then send the cart straight on its way. ⁹Watch the cart. If it goes toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land, the Lord has given us this great sickness. But if it doesn’t, we will know that Israel’s God has not punished us. Our sickness just happened by chance.”

¹⁰The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They took two cows that had just had calves and hitched them to the cart, but they kept their calves at home. ¹¹They put the Ark of the Lord and the box with the gold rats and models of growths on the cart. ¹²Then the cows went straight toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road, mooing all the way, and did not turn right or left. The Philistine kings followed the cows as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the Ark of the Lord, they were very happy. ¹⁴The cart came to the field belonging to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped near a large rock. The people of Beth Shemesh chopped up the wood of the cart. Then they sacrificed the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord. ¹⁵The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the box that had the gold models, and they put both on the large rock. That day the people of Beth Shemesh offered whole burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶After the five Philistine kings saw this, they went back to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷The Philistines had sent these gold models of the growths as penalty offerings to the Lord. They sent one model for each Philistine town: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸And the Philistines also sent gold models of rats. The number of rats matched the number of towns belonging to the Philistine kings, including both strong, walled cities and country villages. The large rock on which they put the Ark of the Lord is still there in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹But some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark of the Lord. So God killed seventy of them. The people of Beth Shemesh cried because the Lord had struck them down. ²⁰They said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Whom will he strike next?”

²¹Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it to your city.”

7The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord to Abinadab’s house on a hill. There they made Abinadab’s son Eleazar holy for the Lord so he could guard the Ark of the Lord.

The Lord Saves the Israelites

²The Ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. And the people of Israel began to follow the Lord again. ³Samuel spoke to the whole group of Israel, saying, “If you’re turning back to the Lord with all your hearts, you must remove your foreign gods and your idols of Ashtoreth. You must give yourselves fully to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will save you from the Philistines.”

⁴So the Israelites put away their idols of Baal and Ashtoreth, and they served only the Lord.

⁵Samuel said, “All Israel must meet at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶So the Israelites met together at Mizpah. They drew water from the ground and poured it out before the Lord and fasted that day. They confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel served as judge of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷The Philistines heard the Israelites were meeting at Mizpah, so the Philistine kings came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard they were coming, they were afraid. ⁸They said to Samuel, “Don’t stop praying to the Lord our God for us! Ask him to save us from the Philistines!” ⁹Then Samuel took a baby lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He called to the Lord for Israel’s sake, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰While Samuel was burning the offering, the Philistines came near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered against them with loud thunder. They were so frightened they became confused. So the Israelites defeated the Philistines in battle. ¹¹The men of Israel ran out of Mizpah and chased the Philistines almost to Beth Car, killing the Philistines along the way.

Peace Comes to Israel

¹²After this happened Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named the stone Ebenezer, ⁿ saying, “The Lord has helped us to this point.” ¹³So the Philistines were defeated and did not enter the Israelites’ land again.

The Lord was against the Philistines all Samuel’s life. ¹⁴Earlier the Philistines had taken towns from the Israelites, but the Israelites won them back, from Ekron to Gath. They also took back from the Philistines the lands near these towns. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵Samuel continued as judge of Israel all his life. ¹⁶Every year he went from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah and judged the Israelites in all these towns. ¹⁷But Samuel always went back to Ramah, where his home was. There he judged Israel and built an altar to the Lord.

Israel Asks for a King

8When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges for Israel. ²His first son was named Joel, and his second son was named Abijah. Joel and Abijah were judges in Beersheba. ³But Samuel’s sons did not live as he did. They tried to get money dishonestly, and they accepted money secretly to make wrong judgments.

⁴So all the elders came together and met Samuel at Ramah. ⁵They said to him, “You’re old, and your sons don’t live as you do. Give us a king to rule over us like all the other nations.”

⁶When the elders said that, Samuel was not pleased. He prayed to the Lord, ⁷and the Lord told Samuel, “Listen to whatever the people say to you. They have not rejected you. They have rejected me from being their king. ⁸They are doing as they have always done. When I took them out of Egypt, they left me and served other gods. They are doing the same to you. ⁹Now listen to the people, but warn them what the king who rules over them will do.”

¹⁰So Samuel told those who had asked him for a king what the Lord had said. ¹¹Samuel said, “If you have a king ruling over you, this is what he will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and his horses, and they will run in front of the king’s chariot. ¹²The king will make some of your sons commanders over thousands or over fifties. He will make some of your other sons plow his ground and reap his harvest. He will take others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³He will take your daughters to make perfume and cook and bake for him. ¹⁴He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his servants. ¹⁵He will take one-tenth of your grain and grapes and give it to his officers and servants. ¹⁶He will take your male and female servants, your best cattle, and your donkeys and use them all for his own work. ¹⁷He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸When that time comes, you will cry out because of the king you chose. But the Lord will not answer you then.”

¹⁹But the people would not listen to Samuel. They said, “No! We want a king to rule over us. ²⁰Then we will be the same as all the other nations. Our king will judge for us and go with us and fight our battles.”

²¹After Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated their words to the Lord. ²²The Lord answered, “You must listen to them. Give them a king.”

Then Samuel told the people of Israel, “Go back to your towns.”