1 Samuel 1-8
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Birth of Samuel
1 There was a man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives. One was named Hannah, and the other was named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 Every year this man went up from his city to worship and to offer sacrifices to the Lord of Armies[a] at Shiloh. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were serving there as priests of the Lord.
4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions of food to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, but the Lord had kept her from having children.[b]
6 Hannah’s rival kept taunting her to make her miserable, because the Lord had kept Hannah from having children. 7 Year after year, when Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her, so Hannah would weep and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Hannah’s spirit was very distressed, and as she prayed to the Lord, she sobbed and wept many tears. 11 She made a vow and said, “O Lord of Armies, if you will carefully consider the misery of your servant and remember me, and if you do not forget your servant but give your servant a male child,[c] then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli was looking at her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking silently from her heart. Although her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get away from your wine!”
15 Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman with a very troubled spirit. I have not been drinking wine or beer, but I have poured out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless, wicked woman. I have been speaking like this because of my great misery and because of how I have been grieved.”[d]
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked for.”
18 She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way. She ate, and her face no longer looked sad.
19 They got up early in the morning and worshipped the Lord. They then returned to their home at Ramah.
Elkanah was intimate with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel[e] because she said, “I asked for him from the Lord.”
21 When this man Elkanah and his entire household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go up with them, because she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before the Lord and remain there permanently.”
23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do whatever you think is best. Wait until you have weaned him. Yes, then the Lord will establish his word.”
So the woman stayed at home, and she nursed her son until she was ready to wean him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her. She also took a three-year-old bull,[f] twenty-five pounds[g] of flour, and a container of wine, and she brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh. The boy was ⎣with them. And they brought him before the Lord, and his father killed the sacrifice as he regularly did before the Lord, and he brought⎦ the boy.[h] 25 When they had killed the bull, they presented the child to Eli. 26 She said, “Excuse me, my lord. As your soul lives,[i] my lord, I am the woman who stood here next to you, praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked for. 28 So now I have also dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So he worshipped the Lord there.
Hannah’s Song
2 Hannah prayed and said:
My heart rejoices in the Lord!
In the Lord, my horn[j] is raised high.
My mouth is opened wide against my enemies,
because I find joy in your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like the Lord.
Yes, there is no one but you,
and there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not talk so high and mighty.
Do not let proud words come out of your mouth,
because the Lord is a God who knows.
By him actions are weighed.[k]
4 The bows of powerful warriors are broken.
Those who were staggering are now armed with strength.
5 Those who once were full now hire themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are satisfied.
Yes, the childless woman has given birth to seven children,
but she who had many children is weak with sorrow.
6 The Lord puts to death, and he makes alive.
He brings down to the grave, and he raises up.
7 The Lord makes some people poor, and he makes others wealthy.
He brings some low. He raises others up.
8 He raises the poor out of the dust.
He lifts up the needy from the garbage pile.
He makes them sit with nobles.
He gives them a glorious throne as a possession.
The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord.
He has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of his favored ones,
but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness,
because a person does not prevail by his own strength.
10 Those who oppose the Lord will be broken to pieces.
He will thunder against them in the heavens.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king.
He will raise up the horn of his anointed one.[l]
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the young boy served the Lord as an attendant to Eli the priest.
Eli’s Wicked Sons Contrasted With Samuel
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked scoundrels. They did not know the Lord.
13 The practice of the priests with the people was that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, while the meat was still boiling, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. 14 He would thrust it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or cooking pot. The priest would then take for himself everything that the fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 Before the people had even burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and tell the person who was making the sacrifice, “Give me meat for the priest to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw meat.”
16 If the man said to him, “Let us burn the fat first. Then take as much as you want,” the servant would say, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you do not, I will take it by force.” 17 So the sin of the young men was very serious in the sight of the Lord, because the men were treating the Lord’s offerings with contempt.
18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord while he was still a young boy, dressed in a special vest[m] made of linen. 19 His mother would make a little robe for him and bring it to him whenever she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you offspring[n] from this woman in place of the son she asked for, whom she loaned to the Lord.” Then they would go back to their home. 21 The Lord came to Hannah with his blessing,[o] and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything that his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I keep hearing from all these people about your evil actions. 24 No, my sons, it is not a good report that I hear! The people are spreading this report everywhere.[p] 25 If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will mediate for him?” But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to put them to death.[q]
26 The young man Samuel continued to grow, and he increased in favor with both the Lord and with men.
The Lord’s Warning to Eli
27 A man of God came to Eli and told him this:
This is what the Lord says. Didn’t I clearly reveal myself to the house of your father[r] when they were in Egypt, subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose him to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the special vest before me. I also gave the house of your father all the food offerings[s] from the people of Israel. 29 Why do you all kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded for my dwelling place?[t] Why do you, Eli, honor your sons more than me? Why do you fatten yourselves with the best of all the offerings from my people Israel?
30 Therefore this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel: I stated solemnly that your house[u] and the house of your father would walk before me forever. But now the Lord declares, “This will never be! Yes, I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed.” 31 Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will never be an old man in your house. 32 You will see the distress of the dwelling place. Even when things are good for Israel, there shall never be an old man in your house. 33 Any man of yours whom I do not cut off from my altar will only wear out your eyes with tears and your heart with grief, and all the future generations of your house will die before they reach old age.[v]
34 This will be the sign for you that will come on your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: In one day they will both die. 35 I will raise up a faithful priest for myself, one who will act according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build an enduring house for him, and he will walk before my anointed one forever. 36 Then anyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to the faithful priest to receive a piece of silver and a loaf of bread. The one who is left will say, “Please appoint me to one of the priests’ offices, so that I can eat a scrap of bread.”
Samuel Becomes a Prophet
3 The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophetic vision was not common.
2 Now it happened that Eli’s eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see. Once when Eli was lying down in his place 3 and God’s lamp had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s temple, where God’s ark was. 4 The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel said, “I am here.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Eli said, “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6 Then the Lord called once more, “Samuel!”
So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
He answered, “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”
7 Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord’s presence,[w] that is, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The Lord called Samuel for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the young man. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
So Samuel went and once again lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there and called as he had the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look, I am going to do something in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 On that day I am going to carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken against his house, from beginning to end. 13 I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever because of their guilty behavior, which he knew about. This will happen because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not restrain them. 14 I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for with sacrifice or offering.”
15 So Samuel lay there until morning.[x] Then he opened the doors to the Lord’s house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. 16 But Eli called to Samuel, “Samuel, my son!”
He said, “I am here.”
17 Eli said, “What is the message that he has spoken to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God punish you severely and double it,[y] if you hide from me one word of all of the things that he spoke to you.”
18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do whatever is good in his eyes.”
19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. The Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because at Shiloh the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. ⎣So Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord for all Israel, from one end of the land to the other end.⎦[z]
4 So the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
Israel and the Philistines
⎣Eli was very old, and his sons kept getting worse in their wickedness in the presence of the Lord. In those days the Philistines gathered themselves together for war against Israel.⎦ [aa]
Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle. The Israelites camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines formed battle lines to confront the Israelites. As the battle developed, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of the Israelites lined up on the battlefield.
3 When the people had come back into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord allowed us to be defeated today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that it[ab] may come into our midst and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
4 So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Armies, who sits above the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a shout so loud that the earth shook.[ac]
6 When the Philistines heard the noise of all the shouting, they asked, “Why is there this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” They learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 7 The Philistines were afraid, so they said, “A god has come into the camp.” They said, “We’re doomed! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 We are doomed! Who can deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, so that you will not become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Act like men and fight!”
10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. A very great slaughter took place, in which thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 God’s ark was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, died.
12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and came to Shiloh that same day. His clothing was torn, and his face was dirty. 13 When he arrived, Eli was there, sitting on his chair beside the road. He was watching, because his heart was trembling with fear for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told them what had happened, the whole city was in an uproar. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the uproar, he said, “What does this noisy commotion mean?”
The man came quickly and told Eli what had happened. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes stared straight ahead[ad] because he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battlefield. Today I fled from the battlefield.”
Eli said, “What was the outcome, my son?”
17 The man who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. In addition, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
18 When the man mentioned God’s ark, Eli fell backwards off his seat, which was by the city gate. He broke his neck, and he died, because he was an old man, and he was overweight. He had judged Israel[ae] for forty years.
19 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, ready to give birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, because labor pains had come upon her. 20 As her death approached, the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay attention. 21 She named the boy Ichabod and said, “The glory has departed from Israel.”[af] Because God’s ark had been taken, and because of the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, 22 she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because God’s ark has been taken.”
The Travels of the Ark
5 After the Philistines had captured God’s ark, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 The Philistines took God’s ark and brought it into the house of Dagon[ag] and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod got up early the next day, there was Dagon—fallen facedown to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4 When they got up early the following morning, it had happened again! There was Dagon, fallen facedown in front of the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both of his hands were broken off and were lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso[ah] was intact. 5 That is why the priests of Dagon and any people who enter Dagon’s temple in Ashdod do not step on the threshold of Dagon to this day.
6 Then the Lord’s hand was heavy against the people of Ashdod. He devastated them and struck them with tumors.[ai] He struck Ashdod and its surrounding territory. 7 When the men of Ashdod saw what was taking place, they said, “The Ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.” 8 They called together a meeting of all the serens[aj] of the Philistines and asked, “What shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”
They answered, “Let the Ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” So they carried the Ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had carried it there, the Lord’s hand was against that city, and there was great panic. He struck the men of the city, both young and old,[ak] so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent God’s ark to Ekron.
When God’s ark came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us and our people.” 11 They called a meeting of all the serens of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.” Indeed, the threat of death caused panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the outcry from the city went up to heaven.
6 The Lord’s ark remained in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners[al] and asked, “What should we do with the Lord’s ark? Advise us how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They said, “If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but, by all means, send it to him with a restitution offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been removed from you.”[am]
4 Then they said, “What restitution offering should we send to him?”
They said, “There are five serens of the Philistines, so five gold tumors and five gold mice should be sent, because the same plague was on all of you and on your serens. 5 Therefore you should make replicas of your tumors and figurines of the mice that are ruining your land, and you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you, on your gods, and on your land. 6 Why harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After the Lord had dealt ruthlessly with them, didn’t the Egyptians let the people go, and they departed?
7 “So make a new cart and take two cows that are nursing their calves, cows that have never had a yoke on them. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take their calves away from them and send them home. 8 Then take the Ark of the Lord and place it on the cart. Place the gold objects, which you are sending to him as a restitution offering, into a box beside the ark. Then send it on its way, and let it go on its own. 9 Watch it. If it goes up on the road toward the border of Israel, to Beth Shemesh, then it is their god who has inflicted this disaster on us. But if not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us. It was a coincidence that this happened to us.”
10 So that is what the men did. They took two cows that were nursing calves, hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 Then they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the replicas of their tumors. 12 The cows headed straight up the road toward Beth Shemesh. They went straight along the highway without stopping, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. The serens of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They looked up and saw the Ark, and they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there, near the large stone that was there. Then the people split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took the Lord’s ark and the box with it, which contained the gold objects, and they put them on the large stone. On that same day, the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
16 When the five serens of the Philistines had seen this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 This is the number of gold tumors that the Philistines sent back as a restitution offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18 The gold mice also corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines that belonged to the five serens, the fortified cities along with the rural villages. The objects were placed on the large stone[an] on which they had placed the Ark of the Lord. That stone remains in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh to this day. 19 The Lord struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men.[ao] Then the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with such a heavy blow. 20 The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy God, the Lord? To whom can we send it[ap] to get it away from here?”
21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim. They said, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up for yourselves.”
7 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came, took the Ark of the Lord, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. Then they consecrated his son Eleazar to watch over the Ark of the Lord. 2 So from that day the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim for a long time—twenty years. And the entire house of Israel deeply longed for the return of the Lord.
Samuel Leads Israel to Victory
3 Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, put away the foreign gods and the Ashtartes[aq] from among you. Direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him only. Then he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
4 So the people of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtartes and served the Lord only. 5 Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”
6 So Israel gathered together at Mizpah. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted that day, and they said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
Samuel acted as judge for the people of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered together at Mizpah, the serens of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the people of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines, 8 and the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out for us to the Lord our God, so that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him.
10 As Samuel was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines approached to engage in battle with Israel, but on that day the Lord thundered against the Philistines with a loud roar and threw them into a panic, so they were struck down before Israel. 11 The men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down until they arrived at a point below Beth Kar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named that place Ebenezer,[ar] saying, “The Lord has helped us this far.”[as] 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they no longer came into the territory of Israel. The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel. From Ekron all the way to Gath, Israel recovered the territory of those cities from the control of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 Each year he would travel in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all those places. 17 He then would return to Ramah, where his home was, and he would also judge Israel there. He also built an altar to the Lord there.
Israel’s Request for a King
8 When Samuel was old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They served as judges in Beersheba. 3 His sons did not follow in his footsteps. Instead, they turned aside to seek dishonest gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons are not walking in your ways. Now appoint a king for us so that he can judge[at] us like all the other nations.” 6 But in Samuel’s eyes, their request to receive a king to judge them looked evil, so Samuel prayed to the Lord.
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding everything they have said to you, because it is not you whom they have rejected. I am the one they have rejected as king over them. 8 This is just like all the actions they have taken from the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, right up to this present day. They have forsaken me and served other gods, and now they are also acting the same way toward you. 9 So now listen to them. Nevertheless, warn them strongly and show them what the king who reigns over them will do.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people, who had asked him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who reigns over you will do. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and with his teams of horses,[au] and they will have to run ahead of his chariots. 12 He will make them serve as commanders of a thousand soldiers and as commanders of fifty. He will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest. He will assign some to make his weapons and the trappings[av] for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to serve as perfume makers, cooks, and bakers. 14 He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards, and he will give it to the members of his court and to his officials. 16 He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men,[aw] and your donkeys, and he will use them to do his work. 17 He will take a tenth from your flocks, and you will become his servants. 18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. Instead they said, “No, we want to have a king over us, 20 so that we also can be like all the nations, and our king can judge us and lead us out to fight our battles.”
21 Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. 22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to them, and appoint a king for them.”
So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Each of you go home to your own city.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 1:3 Traditionally Lord of Hosts or Lord Sebaoth. God is the Lord of Armies because he rules the army of angels and the army of stars. If he rules over these great powers, he rules over everything.
- 1 Samuel 1:5 Literally had closed her womb
- 1 Samuel 1:11 Literally seed of men, an unusual expression
- 1 Samuel 1:16 Or provoked
- 1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew words heard by God.
- 1 Samuel 1:24 The translation follows the reading found in a Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll and in the Greek Old Testament. The main Hebrew text reads three bulls, but the following verse refers to only one animal.
- 1 Samuel 1:24 Hebrew an ephah
- 1 Samuel 1:24 The words in half-brackets are included in a Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll. The main Hebrew text has the cryptic reading the boy [was] a boy. The longer reading may preserve evidence of an accidental skip during the copying of the standard Hebrew text from one occurrence of the word boy to the next. This Dead Sea Scroll also has additional words in verse 25, which specify that Elkanah presented the sacrifice and Hannah presented Samuel to Eli.
- 1 Samuel 1:26 This is an oath that means I swear on your life.
- 1 Samuel 2:1 A horn is a symbol of power.
- 1 Samuel 2:3 The translation follows the Hebrew reading in the margin (qere). The main Hebrew text (kethiv) reads actions are not weighed.
- 1 Samuel 2:10 Or Messiah. The text points first to David and the coming kings of Judah but ultimately to Christ.
- 1 Samuel 2:18 Hebrew ephod
- 1 Samuel 2:20 Literally seed
- 1 Samuel 2:21 Literally visited Hannah. In the Bible visit means to come with blessing or judgment.
- 1 Samuel 2:24 Or you cause the Lord’s people to transgress
- 1 Samuel 2:25 Or it was the Lord’s will to put them to death
- 1 Samuel 2:27 That is, his ancestor Aaron
- 1 Samuel 2:28 Or offerings made by fire
- 1 Samuel 2:29 Not the common Hebrew name for the Dwelling, but a different word
- 1 Samuel 2:30 House here refers to the family line of the priests.
- 1 Samuel 2:33 The structure and wording of the verse are difficult, and the translation is uncertain.
- 1 Samuel 3:7 Literally did not know the Lord
- 1 Samuel 3:15 The Greek Old Testament includes a few words that are not present in the Hebrew text. These words are marked by half-brackets in the following: So Samuel lay there until morning⎣and he got up in the morning⎦ and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. The Hebrew copyist’s eye may have jumped from the first occurrence of morning to the second.
- 1 Samuel 3:17 Literally thus may God do to you and thus may he add
- 1 Samuel 3:21 See the following note on verse 4:1.
- 1 Samuel 4:1 At the transition from chapter 3 to chapter 4, the Greek Old Testament has two blocks of additional material which are not in the Hebrew text. They are marked by half-brackets in the following: 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because at Shiloh the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. ⎣So Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord for all Israel, from one end of the land to the other end.⎦ 41 So the word of Samuel came to all Israel. ⎣Eli was very old, and his sons kept getting worse in their wickedness in the presence of the Lord. In those days the Philistines gathered themselves together for war against Israel.⎦ Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle. The first omission occurs between two occurrences of identical letters in Hebrew. The second omission from the Hebrew text occurs between two occurrences of the word Israel.
- 1 Samuel 4:3 Or he
- 1 Samuel 4:5 Or the earth echoed it
- 1 Samuel 4:15 Literally his eyes stood. This might mean that his eyes had cataracts.
- 1 Samuel 4:18 Or served as leader of Israel
- 1 Samuel 4:21 Ichabod means no glory.
- 1 Samuel 5:2 Dagon was a grain god of the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 5:4 The word torso is not in the Hebrew text, but it is supported by the ancient versions.
- 1 Samuel 5:6 Or swellings or hemorrhoids. The marginal notes to the Hebrew text suggest a euphemistic substitute. This supports the understanding that the affliction was something like anal tumors or hemorrhoids.
- 1 Samuel 5:8 Seren is a special word used only of the rulers of the five Philistine city states. It seems to be a Philistine term. It may be related to the Greek word tyrant, an autocratic ruler of a city state. Seren is a title like pharaoh or czar, which is applied to one specific class of rulers. Since this is a unique title, the EHV uses the transliteration seren rather than the traditional rendering lord.
- 1 Samuel 5:9 Or small and great or unimportant and important
- 1 Samuel 6:2 Or practitioners of occult arts
- 1 Samuel 6:3 A Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll and some Greek manuscripts have a longer reading: you will be healed, and an atonement shall be made for you. Shouldn’t his hand be removed from you?
- 1 Samuel 6:18 The reading a large stone is supported by ancient versions and a few Hebrew manuscripts. The majority of Hebrew texts read in the large meadow or in Great Abel (a name which might mean great mourning).
- 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts and the historian Josephus read seventy men. The majority of Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions read seventy men, fifty thousand men. This construction is not the normal way of recording the number 50,070. This number also seems too large for a small town like Beth Shemesh, but this large number has very strong support in the manuscript evidence. Most recent translations follow the minority reading, seventy men. Others try to solve the problem by reading fifty men of a thousand or seventy men out of fifty thousand men or fifty chief men.
- 1 Samuel 6:20 Or him
- 1 Samuel 7:3 Although they may have originally been different goddesses, Asherah and Ashtarte seem to have been blended together with the passage of time. Ashtarte is sometimes substituted for Asherah.
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help.
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Or till now
- 1 Samuel 8:5 In the book of Judges, the concept of judging includes other ruling activities besides judicial functions.
- 1 Samuel 8:11 Or charioteers. There is no evidence for the use of cavalry in battle at this time.
- 1 Samuel 8:12 Trappings is the technical term for equipment like the reins and harnesses but also includes decorative elements of metal and leather. Collections of chariot trappings have been preserved archaeologically.
- 1 Samuel 8:16 The translation follows the Hebrew. The Greek Old Testament reads your cattle.
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