1 Samuel 7:3-11

Living Bible

³ At that time Samuel said to them, “If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth idols. Determine to obey only the Lord; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

⁴ So they destroyed their idols of Baal and Ashtaroth and worshiped only the Lord.

⁵ Then Samuel told them, “Come to Mizpah, all of you, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

⁶ So they gathered there and, in a great ceremony, drew water from the well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day as a sign of sorrow for their sins. So it was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.

⁷ When the Philistine leaders heard about the great crowds at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelis were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching.

⁸ “Plead with God to save us!” they begged Samuel.

⁹ So Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering and pleaded with him to help Israel. And the Lord responded. ¹⁰ Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived for battle, but the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven, and they were thrown into confusion, and the Israelis routed them ¹¹ and chased them from Mizpah to Beth-car, killing them all along the way.