Study Desk

And running to Eli he said, Here am I, for you said my name. And Eli said, I did not say your name; go to your rest again. So he went back to his bed.

So Eli said to Samuel, Go back: and if the voice comes again, let your answer be, Say on, Lord; for the ears of your servant are open. So Samuel went back to his bed.

So I have made an oath to the family of Eli that no offering of meat or of meal which they may make will ever take away the sin of his family.

And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord's agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us.

So the people sent to Shiloh and got the ark of the agreement of the Lord of armies whose resting-place is between the winged ones; and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the ark of God's agreement.

And when the ark of the Lord's agreement came into the tent-circle, all Israel gave a great cry, so that the earth was sounding with it.

So the Philistines went to the fight, and Israel was overcome, and every man went in flight to his tent: and great was the destruction, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel were put to the sword.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon's house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.

So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.

So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of the town made an outcry, saying, They have sent the ark of the God of Israel to us for the destruction of us and of our people.

So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.

So make images of the growths caused by your disease and of the mice which are damaging your land; and give glory to the God of Israel: it may be that the weight of his hand will be lifted from you and from your gods and from your land.

So now, take and make ready a new cart, and two cows which have never come under the yoke, and have the cows yoked to the cart, and take their young ones away from them:

And put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the gold images which you are sending as a sin-offering in a chest by its side; and send it away so that it may go.

And the men did so; they took two cows, yoking them to the cart and shutting up their young ones in their living-place:

So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord to the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, and they made his son Eleazar holy and put the ark in his care.

So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.

So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.