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1 Samuel 4-7
Contemporary English Version
1 Samuel 4-7
Contemporary English Version
4 1 Then Samuel would speak to the whole nation of Israel.
The Philistines Capture the Sacred Chest
One day the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. They set up camp near Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines made a fierce attack. They defeated the Israelites and killed about 4,000 of them.
3 The Israelite army returned to their camp, and the leaders said, “Why did the Lord let us lose to the Philistines today? Let's get the sacred chest where the Lord's agreement with Israel is kept. Then the Lord[a] will help us and rescue us from our enemies.”
4 (A) The army sent some soldiers to bring back the sacred chest from Shiloh, because the Lord All-Powerful has his throne on the winged creatures on top of the chest.
As Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, 5 brought the chest into camp, the army cheered so loudly that the ground shook. 6 The Philistines heard the noise and said, “What are those Hebrews shouting about?”
When the Philistines learned that the sacred chest had been brought into the camp, 7 they were scared to death and said:
The gods have come into their camp. Now we're in real trouble! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before. 8 We're in big trouble! Who can save us from these powerful gods? They're the same gods who made all those horrible things happen to the Egyptians in the desert.
9 Philistines, be brave and fight hard! If you don't, those Hebrews will rule us, just as we've been ruling them. Fight and don't be afraid.
10 The Philistines did fight. They killed 30,000 Israelite soldiers, and all the rest ran off to their homes. 11 Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and the sacred chest was captured.
Eli Dies
12 That same day a soldier from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefront to Shiloh. He had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head to show his sorrow. 13 He went into town and told the news about the battle, and everyone started crying.
Eli was afraid that something might happen to the sacred chest. So he was sitting on his chair beside the road, just waiting. 14-15 He was 98 years old and blind, but he could hear everyone crying, and he asked, “What's all that noise?”
The soldier hurried over and told Eli, 16 “I escaped from the fighting today and ran here.”
“Young man, what happened?” Eli asked.
17 “Israel ran away from the Philistines,” the soldier answered. “Many of our people were killed, including your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. But worst of all, the sacred chest was captured.”
18 Eli was still sitting on a chair beside the wall of the town gate. And when the man said that the Philistines had taken the sacred chest, Eli fell backwards. He was a very heavy old man, and the fall broke his neck and killed him. He had been a leader[b] of Israel for 40 years.
19 The wife of Phinehas was about to give birth. And soon after she heard that the sacred chest had been captured and that her husband and his father had died, her baby came. The birth was very hard, 20 and she was dying. But the women taking care of her said, “Don't be afraid—it's a boy!”
She didn't pay any attention to them. 21-22 Instead she kept thinking about losing her husband and her father-in-law. So she said, “My son will be named Ichabod,[c] because the glory of Israel left our country when the sacred chest was captured.”
God Causes Trouble for the Philistines
5 The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. 2 They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshiped.
3 When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying facedown on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged. 4 But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying facedown on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway. 5 This is why the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod.
6 The Lord caused a lot of trouble for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He made sores break out all over their bodies,[d] and everyone was in a panic.[e] 7 Finally, they said, “The God of Israel did this. He is the one who caused all this trouble for us and our god Dagon. We've got to get rid of this chest.”
8 The people of Ashdod invited all the Philistine rulers to come to Ashdod, and they asked them, “What can we do with the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel?”
“Send it to Gath,” the rulers answered. But after they took it there, 9 the Lord made sores break out on everyone in town. The people of Gath were frightened, 10 so they sent the sacred chest to Ekron. But before they could take it through the town gates, the people of Ekron started screaming, “They've brought the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel! It will kill us and our families too!”
The Philistines Send Back the Sacred Chest
11 The people of Ekron called for another meeting of the Philistine rulers and told them, “Send this chest back where it belongs. Then it won't kill us.”
Everyone was in a panic, because God was causing a lot of people to die, 12 and those who had survived were suffering from the sores. They all cried to their gods for help.
6 After the sacred chest had been in Philistia for seven months,[f] 2 the Philistines called in their priests and fortunetellers, and asked, “What should we do with this sacred chest? Tell us how to send it back where it belongs!”
3 “Don't send it back without a gift,” the priests and fortunetellers answered. “Send along something to Israel's God to make up for taking the chest in the first place. Then you will be healed, and you will find out why the Lord was causing you so much trouble.”
4 “What should we send?” the Philistines asked.
The priests and fortunetellers answered:
There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same disease that you have. 5 So make five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out your crops. If you honor the God of Israel with this gift, maybe he will stop causing trouble for you and your gods and your crops. 6 Don't be like the Egyptians and their king. They were stubborn, but when Israel's God was finished with them, they had to let Israel go.
7 Get a new cart and two cows that have young calves and that have never pulled a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves back to their barn. 8 Then put the chest on the cart. Put the gold rats and sores into a bag and put it on the cart next to the chest. Then send it on its way.
9 Watch to see if the chest goes on up the road to the Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh. If it goes back to its own country, you will know that it was the Lord who made us suffer so badly. But if the chest doesn't go back to its own country, then the Lord had nothing to do with the disease that hit us—it was simply bad luck.
10 The Philistines followed their advice. They hitched up the two cows to the cart, but they kept their calves in a barn. 11 Then they put the chest on the cart, along with the bag that had the gold rats and sores in it.
12 The cows went straight up the road toward Beth-Shemesh, mooing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them until they got close to Beth-Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting their wheat[g] in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were so happy that they stopped working and started celebrating.
14-15 The cows left the road and pulled the cart into a field that belonged to Joshua from Beth-Shemesh, and they stopped beside a huge rock. Some men from the tribe of Levi were there. So they took the chest off the cart and placed it on the rock, and then they did the same thing with the bag of gold rats and sores. A few other people chopped up the cart and made a fire. They killed the cows and burned them as sacrifices to the Lord. After that, they offered more sacrifices.
16 When the five rulers of the Philistines saw what had happened, they went back to Ekron that same day.
17 That is how the Philistines sent gifts to the Lord to make up for taking the sacred chest. They sent five gold sores, one each for their towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 They also sent one gold rat for each walled town and for every village that the five Philistine rulers controlled. The huge stone[h] where the Levites set the chest is still there in Joshua's field as a reminder of what happened.
The Sacred Chest Is Sent to Kiriath-Jearim
19 Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed 70[i] of them. This made the people of Beth-Shemesh very sad, 20 and they started saying, “No other God is like the Lord! Who can go near him and stay alive? We'll have to send the chest away from here. But where can we send it?”
21 They sent messengers to tell the people of Kiriath-Jearim, “The Philistines have sent back the sacred chest. Why don't you take it and keep it there with you?”
7 (B) The people of Kiriath-Jearim got the chest and took it to Abinadab's house, which was on a hill in their town. They chose his son Eleazar to take care of it, 2 and it stayed there for 20 years.
During this time everyone in Israel was very sad and begged the Lord for help.[j]
The People of Israel Turn Back to the Lord
3 One day, Samuel told all the people of Israel, “If you really want to turn back to the Lord, then prove it. Get rid of your foreign idols, including the ones of the goddess Astarte. Turn to the Lord with all your heart and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”
4 The people got rid of their idols of Baal and Astarte and began worshiping only the Lord.
5 Then Samuel said, “Tell everyone in Israel to meet together at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”
6 The Israelites met together at Mizpah with Samuel as their leader. They drew water from the well and poured it out as an offering to the Lord. On that same day they went without eating to show their sorrow, and they confessed they had been unfaithful to the Lord.
The Philistines Attack Israel
7 When the Philistine rulers found out about the meeting at Mizpah, they sent an army there to attack the people of Israel.
The Israelites were afraid when they heard that the Philistines were coming. 8 “Don't stop praying!” they told Samuel. “Ask the Lord our God to rescue us.”
9-10 (C) Samuel begged the Lord to rescue Israel, then he sacrificed a young lamb to the Lord. Samuel had not even finished offering the sacrifice when the Philistines started to attack. But the Lord answered his prayer and made thunder crash all around them. The Philistines panicked and ran away. 11 The men of Israel left Mizpah and went after them as far as the hillside below Beth-Car, killing every enemy soldier they caught.
12-13 The Philistines were so badly beaten that it was quite a while before they attacked Israel again. After the battle, Samuel set up a monument between Mizpah and the rocky cliffs. He named it “Help Monument”[k] to remind Israel how much the Lord had helped them.
For as long as Samuel lived, the Lord helped Israel fight the Philistines. 14 The Israelites were even able to recapture their towns and territory between Ekron and Gath.
Israel was also at peace with the Amorites.[l]
Samuel Is a Leader in Israel
15 Samuel was a leader[m] in Israel all his life. 16 Every year he would go around to the towns of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah where he served as judge for the people. 17 Then he would go back to his home in Ramah and do the same thing there. He also had an altar built for the Lord at Ramah.
Footnotes
- 4.3 Lord: Or “chest.”
- 4.18 leader: The Hebrew word means that Eli may have been an army commander, a judge, and a priest.
- 4.21,22 Ichabod: Ichabod means “where is the glory?” or “there is no glory.”
- 5.6 sores … bodies: Or “He struck them with bubonic plague.”
- 5.6 panic: Two ancient translations add “Rats came from their ships, and people were dying right and left.”
- 6.1 months: One ancient translation adds “and rats were everywhere” or “and rats ate the crops.”
- 6.13 wheat: The wheat harvest took place in May and June.
- 6.18 stone: A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts “meadow” or “stream.”
- 6.19 70: A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts “70 men, 50,000 men.”
- 7.2 Israel … help: Or “Israel turned to the Lord and begged him for help.”
- 7.12,13 Help Monument: Or “Ebenezer.”
- 7.14 Amorites: In this verse, the non-Israelite peoples of Canaan.
- 7.15 leader: The Hebrew word could mean an army commander, a judge, and a religious leader.
1 Samuel 4-7
New International Version
1 Samuel 4-7
New International Version
4 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.
The Philistines Capture the Ark
Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer,(A) and the Philistines at Aphek.(B) 2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why(C) did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark(D) of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh,(E) so that he may go with us(F) and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim.(G) And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout(H) that the ground shook. 6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew(I) camp?”
When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid.(J) “A god has[a] come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck(K) the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues(L) in the wilderness. 9 Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they(M) have been to you. Be men, and fight!”
10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated(N) and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.(O)
Death of Eli
12 That same day a Benjamite(P) ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust(Q) on his head. 13 When he arrived, there was Eli(R) sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”
The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes(S) had failed so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”
Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,(T) and the ark of God has been captured.”(U)
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led[b](V) Israel forty years.(W)
19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.
21 She named the boy Ichabod,[c](X) saying, “The Glory(Y) has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The Glory(Z) has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”(AA)
The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron
5 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer(AB) to Ashdod.(AC) 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.(AD) 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen(AE) on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken(AF) off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.(AG)
6 The Lord’s hand(AH) was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation(AI) on them and afflicted them with tumors.[d](AJ) 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.” 8 So they called together all the rulers(AK) of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”
They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.(AL)” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.
9 But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic.(AM) He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.[e] 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.(AN)
As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” 11 So they called together all the rulers(AO) of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it[f] will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. 12 Those who did not die(AP) were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
The Ark Returned to Israel
6 When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2 the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners(AQ) and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift;(AR) by all means send a guilt offering(AS) to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand(AT) has not been lifted from you.”
4 The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”
They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number(AU) of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague(AV) has struck both you and your rulers. 5 Make models of the tumors(AW) and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory(AX) to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6 Why do you harden(AY) your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them,(AZ) did they(BA) not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?
7 “Now then, get a new cart(BB) ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked.(BC) Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh,(BD) then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”
10 So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. 11 They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. 12 Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat(BE) in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering(BF) to the Lord. 15 The Levites(BG) took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock.(BH) On that day the people of Beth Shemesh(BI) offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.
17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord—one each(BJ) for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18 And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 But God struck down(BK) some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[g] of them to death because they looked(BL) into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand(BM) in the presence of the Lord, this holy(BN) God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
21 Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim,(BO) saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.” 7 1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark(BP) of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s(BQ) house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim(BR) a long time—twenty years in all.
Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah
Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord.(BS) 3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning(BT) to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid(BU) yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths(BV) and commit(BW) yourselves to the Lord and serve him only,(BX) and he will deliver(BY) you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel(BZ) said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah,(CA) and I will intercede(CB) with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah,(CC) they drew water and poured(CD) it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader[h](CE) of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid(CF) because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying(CG) out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel(CH) took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.(CI)
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered(CJ) with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic(CK) that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone(CL) and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,[i](CM) saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were subdued(CN) and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron(CO) to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.(CP)
15 Samuel(CQ) continued as Israel’s leader(CR) all(CS) the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel(CT) to Gilgal(CU) to Mizpah, judging(CV) Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah,(CW) where his home was, and there he also held court(CX) for Israel. And he built an altar(CY) there to the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 4:7 Or “Gods have (see Septuagint)
- 1 Samuel 4:18 Traditionally judged
- 1 Samuel 4:21 Ichabod means no glory.
- 1 Samuel 5:6 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate tumors. And rats appeared in their land, and there was death and destruction throughout the city
- 1 Samuel 5:9 Or with tumors in the groin (see Septuagint)
- 1 Samuel 5:11 Or he
- 1 Samuel 6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070
- 1 Samuel 7:6 Traditionally judge; also in verse 15
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help.
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