1 Samuel 1-7

New Catholic Bible

The Last Judges: Eli and Samuel^[a]

Chapter 1^[b]

Elkanah’s Pilgrimage to Shiloh. ¹ There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives. The name of one of them was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not have any children. ³ This man would travel from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts^[c] in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests there.

⁴ When Elkanah performed his sacrifice, he would give a portion of it to Peninnah his wife and a portion each to all of her sons and daughters, ⁵ but he would give a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her although the Lord had left her barren. ⁶ Her rival^[d] provoked her and made her miserable because the Lord had left her barren. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, she provoked her. This made her weep, and she refused to eat. ⁸ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why are you not eating? Why are you so downhearted? Am I not worth more than ten sons to you?”

Hannah’s Prayer. ⁹ Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She was greatly distressed and she prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.^{[e] 11} She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will regard the troubles of your handmaid and will remember me, and not forget your handmaid, and you will give your handmaid a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord for his entire life, and no razor^[f] will ever touch his head.”

¹² As she continued to pray to the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart so that only her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, therefore, thought that she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine!” ¹⁵ Hannah answered, “Oh no, my lord! I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking either wine or liquor. I have been pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not account your handmaid to be a daughter of Belial. I have been speaking out of the abundance of my difficulties and my grief.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. The God of Israel grant the request you have made of him.” ¹⁸ She said, “Let your handmaid find favor in your sight.” The woman then went her way and ate, and she was not downcast anymore.

¹⁹ They arose early the next morning and worshiped before the Lord. They then went their way and came to their home in Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

²⁰ The Birth of Samuel. In time it came to pass that Hannah conceived and bore a son whom she named Samuel, saying, “For I have asked the Lord for him.” ²¹ When Elkanah and his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, ²² Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will dwell there forever.” ²³ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Do what you think is best. Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord bring his word to fulfillment.” So the woman stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.

²⁴ Samuel’s Consecration. When she had weaned him, she took him with herself along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was still young. ²⁵ After they sacrificed the bull, they brought the child to Eli. ^26 [g]She said, “Oh my lord, as my soul lives, I am the woman who stood beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted the request that I made of him. ²⁸ Therefore, I have dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

Chapter 2

^1 [h]Then Hannah prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the child ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² The Sons of Eli.^[j][k]Now Eli’s sons were sons of Belial, they had no regard for the Lord. ¹³ This is how the priests would deal with the people when anyone came to offer a sacrifice: the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ He would stick it in the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. Everything that he would bring up with the fork was for the priest. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came up to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come up to a man and say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He will not take any boiled meat from you, only raw meat.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, then you can take what you want,” he would answer him, “No! Give it to me now, or I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ The young men’s sin was very serious before the Lord, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

¹⁸ Hannah’s Family Grows. Samuel was ministering to the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.^{[l] 19} His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer their yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord grant you children from this woman in place of the one you have dedicated to the Lord.” They then went home. ²¹ The Lord was gracious to Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Young Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

²² Eli’s Warning Ignored. Now Eli was very old, and he heard about all the things that his sons were doing to the whole of Israel, how they lay with the woman who gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do these things? I have been hearing about your evil deeds from everyone. ²⁴ No, my sons! It is an evil report that I hear among the Lord’s people. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, then a judge will judge him. If a man sins against God, who will intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father’s rebuke, for the Lord wanted to put them to death.^[m]

²⁶ Meanwhile young Samuel grew in stature and favor with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ The Punishment of Eli’s Sons.^[n]Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Did I not choose him from out of all of the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give your father’s house all of the burnt offerings of the Israelites? ²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering that I have prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest of the offerings of my people Israel?

³⁰ “ ‘Therefore,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Even though I declared that you and your father’s house would minister before me forever, now, far be it from me,’ says the Lord. ‘I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be despised. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that not a single old man remains in your house. ³² You will see the distress of my dwelling in spite of all that I have given Israel. In your house there will never again be an old man. ³³ Everyone of you whom I do not cut off from my altar will be spared so that you can cry out your eyes and grieve your heart. All the descendants of your house will die in the prime of their life.

³⁴ “ ‘This will be a sign for you of what will come upon your two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas. They will both die on the same day. ³⁵ But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do what is my in heart and my mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will walk before my anointed forever. ³⁶ Whoever is left in your house will bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say, “Please place me in one of the priest’s offices so that I might have a piece of bread to eat.” ’ ”

Chapter 3

Samuel’s Call.^{[o] 1} Young Samuel ministered to the Lord under Eli. Now the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there were not many visions. ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow so weak so that he could not see well anymore, was lying down in his place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of God was kept.^{[p] 4} The Lord called out, “Samuel.” He answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, go back and lie down.” He went and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel.” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, my son, lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time. He got up and went to Samuel and said, “Here I am, you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord had called him. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So he went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Then the Lord came and stood and called out as he had the other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am going to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring. ¹² On that day I will bring against Eli all of the things that I have proclaimed against his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have told him that I would judge his household forever because of the sin about which he knew, because his sons brought a curse upon themselves and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt will never be atoned from Eli’s house by either sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until the morning, and then he opened the doors to the house of the Lord. However, he was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli, ¹⁶ but Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son,” and he answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ He said, “What is it that the Lord said to you? Please, do not hide it from me. May the Lord do it to you^[q] and even more if you hide anything from me of all those things that he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. He then said, “He is the Lord, let him do what seems best to him.”

¹⁹ Samuel the Prophet. Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba,^[r] knew that Samuel had been confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of the Lord.

Chapter 4^[s]

The Defeat of the Israelites.^{[t] 1} Samuel’s word came to all of Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. They were camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines were encamped in Aphek. ² The Philistines drew up in battle line against the Israelites, and when they joined up in battle, the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.

³ When the soldiers came back into camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the Lord brought defeat upon us today at the hands of the Philistines? Let us go get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh so that it can go out before us and save us from the hands of our enemies.”

The Ark Is Captured. ⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned between the cherubim.^[u] The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. ⁵ When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all of the Israelites raised such a loud shout that it shook the earth.

⁶ When the Philistines heard the uproar, they asked, “What is this great uproar in the Hebrew camp?” When they found out that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines became frightened. They said, “A god has come into the camp!” They said, “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hands of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. ⁹ Be strong. Act manfully, O Philistines, or you will end up as slaves to the Hebrews, just like they were to you. Act manfully and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated, and each man fled to his own tent. The slaughter was great, for Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ The Ark of God was captured and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.^[v]

¹² The Death of Eli. That same day a Benjaminite ran from the battle line to Shiloh. His clothes were torn and there was dust on his head. ¹³ He came upon Eli who was sitting by the side of the road. He was watching, concerned about the Ark of God. When the man entered the city and told them what had happened, the entire city raised up a cry.

¹⁴ When Eli heard the uproar, he said, “What is the meaning of this outcry?” The man hurried over and explained it to Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyesight was so poor that he could barely see. ¹⁶ The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle. I escaped from the battle today.” He asked, “How did things go, my son?” ¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the Ark of God has been captured.” ¹⁸ At the mention of the Ark of God, he fell over backwards off his seat beside the gate, and he broke his neck and died, for he was a very old man and quite heavy. He had been a judge^[w] of Israel for forty years.

^19 [x]His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant. 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 sunk to her knees and gave birth, for she was overcome by her labor pains. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women who were standing around her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she gave no response, nor did she even look at it. ²¹ Then she named the child Ichabod, for she said, “The glory of God has departed from Israel,” for the Ark of God had been captured and also because of what had happened to her father-in-law and her husband. ²² For this she said, “The glory of God has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.”

Chapter 5

Devastation Follows the Ark. ¹ The Philistines then took the Ark of God, transporting it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the temple of Dagon^[y] and set it alongside of Dagon. ³ When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, they found Dagon fallen down, with his face pressed to the earth, in front of the Ark of the Lord. So they picked Dagon up and put him back in his place.

⁴ When they rose again the next morning, they found him fallen down again, with his face pressed to the earth, in front of the Ark of the Lord. His head and both of his hands were cut off and lying in the threshold; all that was left of Dagon was his torso. ⁵ This is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod steps upon its threshold. ⁶ The hand of the Lord bore down upon Ashdod. He brought devastation to Ashdod and its environs, striking the people with tumors.^[z]

^7 [aa]When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “We must not keep the Ark of the God of Israel here with us, for his hand bears down upon us and our god Dagon.” ⁸ They summoned the lords of the Philistines and said to them, “What are we to do with the Ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the Ark of God be taken to Gath.” So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel.

⁹ But after they moved it, the hand of the Lord rose against that city, causing great confusion there. He struck the people of that city, both the young and the old, with tumors. ¹⁰ They, therefore, sent the Ark of God to Ekron. When the Ark of God was approaching Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!”

¹¹ So they summoned all of the lords of the Philistines and told them, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its home, lest it kill all of us. There is death and panic all throughout the city, and the hand of God is bearing down upon us heavily.” ¹² The men who did not die were stricken with tumors, and a cry rose up from the city to the heavens.

Chapter 6

The Return of the Ark of God. ¹ When the Ark of the Lord had been held in Philistine territory for seven months, ² the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners and said, “What should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back home.”

³ They answered, “If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty-handed. Rather, send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why he continued to afflict you.”^{[ab] 4} They then asked, “What sort of guilt offering should be made to him?” They answered, “Send five golden tumors and five golden mice, as many as the lords of the Philistines, for the plague was on you all, lords included. ⁵ You should make offerings in the likeness of tumors and in the likeness of the mice that have been ravaging the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will ease up on you, your gods, and your land.

⁶ “Why would you harden your hearts, like the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he dealt harshly with them, did they not let them go, and they went their way?

^7 [ac]“Prepare a cart drawn by two milk cows that have calves but have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves away, leading them home. ⁸ Take the Ark of the Lord and place it upon the cart, and put the figures of gold that you are sending back as a guilt offering in a box at its side. Then send it off, and let it go its way. ⁹ Watch it, and if it goes up the road to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is clear that he has brought this great woe upon us. But if it does not, then we shall know that it was not he who punished us, that it happened by chance.”

¹⁰ The Ark at Beth-shemesh. The men did this. They took two milk cows and tied them to a cart, shutting up their calves at home. ¹¹ They then put the Ark of the Lord upon the cart along with the box containing the golden mice and the statues of the tumors. ¹² The cows went straight up to Beth-shemesh, sticking to the road and lowing as they went along. They did not waver in their course to the right nor the left. The lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the border with Beth-shemesh.

¹³ Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley when they looked up and saw the Ark. They rejoiced at what they saw. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and it stopped there by a large rock. The people chopped up the wood from the cart and offered up the milk cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites lowered the Ark down along with the box that contained the objects made of gold and placed them on the large rock. On that day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and performed sacrifices to the Lord.

¹⁶ The five lords of the Philistines saw all of this and returned to Ekron that same day. ¹⁷ The golden tumors that the Philistines sent back as a guilt offering to the Lord were for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron: one tumor for each city. ¹⁸ There were as many golden mice as there were cities under the rule of the five lords of the Philistines, both the fortified cities and the country villages. The large rock upon which they set the Ark of the Lord is in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh to this day.

¹⁹ Punishment for Irreverence. He slew some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. He slew seventy of them.^[ad] The people raised up a lamentation because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰ The men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? To whom should we send it?” ²¹ They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim saying, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and fetch it for yourselves.”

Chapter 7

¹ Some men from Kiriath-jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord away. They brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated Eleazar, his son, to take care of the Ark of the Lord.

Samuel the Judge.^{[ae] 2} The Ark remained at Kiriath-jearim for a long time, for twenty years. All of the people of Israel lamented after the Lord.

³ Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you intend to return to the Lord with your whole heart, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods you have among you, the Astartes, and commit your hearts to serve the Lord alone, then he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites threw away their Baals and Astartes,^[af] and served the Lord alone.

⁵ Samuel then said, “Assemble all of the Israelites at Mizpah,^[ag] and I will intercede to the Lord for you.” ⁶ When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it^[ah] before the Lord. They fasted that day and confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now, Samuel was the judge of the Israelites at Mizpah.

Defeat of the Philistines. ⁷ When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up to attack them. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ The Israelites said to Samuel, “Intercede for us unceasingly with the Lord, our God, that he might deliver us from the power of the Philistines.”

⁹ So Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord for the sake of Israel, and the Lord heard him.

¹⁰ While Samuel was performing the sacrifice, the Philistines drew near to engage the Israelites in combat. The Lord boomed with a loud thunder that day, and the Philistines panicked and they were defeated by the Israelites. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines. They slaughtered them all the way to Beth-car. ¹² Samuel then took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He called it “Ebenezer,” saying “the Lord helped us here.”^[ai]

¹³ Thus the Philistines were defeated and they no longer raided the territory of Israel. The hand of the Lord was raised against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. ¹⁴ The towns that lay between Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to the Israelites, and Israel was able to deliver its borderlands from the hands of the Philistines. There was even peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel continued to serve as the judge of Israel throughout his entire lifetime. ¹⁶ Each year he made a circuit among Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, judging Israel in all of those places, ¹⁷ but he always returned to Ramah, for that was his home, and he judged Israel there, too. He built an altar to Yahweh there.