Study Desk

Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,' they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.'"

He got up and ran to Eli. "Here I am. Did you call me?" "I didn't call you," Eli replied. "Go back to bed." So he did.

So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. "Here I am. Did you call me?" Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

So he said to Samuel, "Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord , your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went back to bed.

So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings."

So Samuel told Eli everything; he didn't hold anything back. "It is the Lord 's will," Eli replied. "Let him do what he thinks best."

So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven's Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!

So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.

But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord ! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again.

So they called together the rulers of the Philistine towns and asked, "What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?" The rulers discussed it and replied, "Move it to the town of Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.

So they sent the Ark of God to the town of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, "They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!"

"Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with a gift," they were told. "Send a guilt offering so the plague will stop. Then, if you are healed, you will know it was his hand that caused the plague."

So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen.

The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt offering.

So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord . Come here and get it!"

So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord . They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it.

So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord .

So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord . They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord . (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel's judge.)

So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him.