Study Desk

And he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; everything that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. They did so in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

And so the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD disrespectfully.

So he said to them, "Why are you doing such things as these, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

'Behold, the days are coming when I will eliminate your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

'Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar, so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

'And everyone who is left in your house will come to bow down to him for a silver coin or a loaf of bread and say, "Please assign me to one of the priest's offices so that I may eat a piece of bread."'"

Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

And the LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son, go back and lie down."

So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.

And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

He said, "What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do the same to you, and more so, if you hide a single word from me of all the words that He spoke to you!"

So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, "He is the LORD; let Him do what seems good to Him."

So the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle, and they camped beside Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped in Aphek.

When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let's take the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies."

So the people sent men to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of armies who is enthroned above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

And as the ark of the covenant of the LORD was coming into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.

So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp!" And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

"Take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; so be men and fight!"

So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the defeat was very great, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.