Study Desk

And Eli blessed Hilkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give you another offspring from this woman for the child which she has dedicated to the LORD. And they went to their own home.

Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel; and how they reviled the women who prayed in the tabernacle of the congregation.

And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was lying down in his bed, and his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see;

Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go back and lie down; and it shall be, if he calls you, you shall say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant hears. So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

And I will show him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knew when his sons reviled the people and he did not rebuke them.

And Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And Eli said, It is the LORD; let him do what is good in his sight.

And Samuel knew that the LORD was with him, and he did not ignore any of his words.

And the LORD continued to reveal himself by his words in Shiloh; and Samuels words were declared throughout all Israel.

And the Philistines fought with Israel, and Israel was defeated, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter in Israel; for there fell of Israel in that day thirty thousand footmen.

And there ran a man of Benjamin from the battle line, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head.

And Eli was sitting upon a seat by the wayside watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city to tell of the disaster, all the city cried out.

Now Eli was seventy-eight years old; and his eyes were dim so that he could not see.

And it came to pass, when Eli thought of the ark of God, he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas wife, was with child; and was near to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed down and travailed; for her pains came upon her.

And when the inhabitants of Ashdod arose early the next morning, they found Dagon was fallen upon his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again.

And when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left.

And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us; for his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god.

And they said, If you send away the ark of the LORD God of Israel, do not send it away empty; but you must surely bring trespass offerings to it; then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.

Wherefore you shall make likenesses of your boils and images of the mice that are destroying the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps he will remove his hand from you and from your god and from your land.