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Introduction

The First Book of Samuel

records the transition in Israel from the period of the judges to the monarchy. This change in Israel’s national life revolved mainly around three men: Samuel, the last of the great judges; Saul, Israel’s first king; and David, whose early adventures before coming to power are interwoven with the accounts of Samuel and Saul.

The theme of this book, like that of other historical writings in the Old Testament, is that faithfulness to God brings success, while disobedience brings disaster. This is stated clearly in the Lord’s message to the priest Eli in 2.30: “I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me.”

The book records mixed feelings about the establishment of the monarchy. The Lord himself was regarded as the real king of Israel, but in response to the people’s request the Lord chose a king for them. The important fact was that both the king and the people of Israel lived under the sovereignty and judgment of God (2.7-10). Under God’s laws the rights of all people, rich and poor alike, were to be maintained.

Outline of Contents

Samuel as judge of Israel (1.1—7.17)

Saul becomes king (8.1—10.27)

The first years of Saul’s reign (11.1—15.35)

David and Saul (16.1—30.31)

The death of Saul and his sons (31.1-13)

Elkanah and His Family at Shiloh

1 There was a man named Elkanah, from the tribe of Ephraim, who lived in the town of Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu, and belonged to the family of Tohu, a part of the clan of Zuph.

2 Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

3 Every year Elkanah went from Ramah to worship and offer sacrifices to theLordAlmighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of theLord.

4 Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children.

5 And even though he loved Hannah very much he would give her only one share, becausetheLordhad kept her from having children.

6 Peninnah, her rival, would torment and humiliate her, because theLordhad kept her childless.

7 This went on year after year; whenever they went to the house of theLord, Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would cry and refuse to eat anything.

8 Her husband Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Hannah and Eli

9-10 One time, after they had finished their meal in the house of theLordat Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to theLord. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door.

11 Hannah made a solemn promise: “LordAlmighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don’t forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut.”

12 Hannah continued to pray to theLordfor a long time, and Eli watched her lips.

13 She was praying silently; her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk,

14 and he said to her, “Stop making a drunken show of yourself! Stop your drinking and sober up!”

15 “No, I’m not drunk, sir,” she answered. “I haven’t been drinking! I am desperate, and I have been praying, pouring out my troubles to theLord.

16 Don’t think I am a worthless woman. I have been praying like this because I’m so miserable.”

17 “Go in peace,” Eli said, “and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked him for.”

18 “May you always think kindly of me,” she replied. Then she went away, ate some food, and was no longer sad.

Samuel’s Birth and Dedication

19 The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early, and after worshiping theLord, they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah, and theLordanswered her prayer.

20 So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,and explained, “I asked theLordfor him.”

21 The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to theLordthe yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised.

22 But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of theLord, where he will stay all his life.”

23 Elkanah answered, “All right, do whatever you think best; stay at home until you have weaned him. And may theLordmake yourpromise come true.” So Hannah stayed at home and nursed her child.

24 After she had weaned him, she took him to Shiloh, taking along a three-year-old bull,a bushel of flour, and a leather bag full of wine. She took Samuel, young as he was, to the house of theLordat Shiloh.

25 After they had killed the bull, they took the child to Eli.

26 Hannah said to him, “Excuse me, sir. Do you remember me? I am the woman you saw standing here, praying to theLord.

27 I asked him for this child, and he gave me what I asked for.

28 So I am dedicating him to theLord. As long as he lives, he will belong to theLord.”

Then theyworshiped theLordthere.

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Hannah’s Prayer

1 Hannah prayed:

“TheLordhas filled my heart with joy;

how happy I am because of what he has done!

I laugh at my enemies;

how joyful I am because God has helped me!

2 “No one is holy like theLord;

there is none like him,

no protector like our God.

3 Stop your loud boasting;

silence your proud words.

For theLordis a God who knows,

and he judges all that people do.

4 The bows of strong soldiers are broken,

but the weak grow strong.

5 The people who once were well fed

now hire themselves out to get food,

but the hungry are hungry no more.

The childless wife has borne seven children,

but the mother of many is left with none.

6 TheLordkills and restores to life;

he sends people to the world of the dead

and brings them back again.

7 He makes some people poor and others rich;

he humbles some and makes others great.

8 He lifts the poor from the dust

and raises the needy from their misery.

He makes them companions of princes

and puts them in places of honor.

The foundations of the earth belong to theLord;

on them he has built the world.

9 “He protects the lives of his faithful people,

but the wicked disappear in darkness;

a man does not triumph by his own strength.

10 TheLord’s enemies will be destroyed;

he will thunder against them from heaven.

TheLordwill judge the whole world;

he will give power to his king,

he will make his chosen king victorious.”

11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed in Shiloh and served theLordunder the priest Eli.

The Sons of Eli

12 The sons of Eli were scoundrels. They paid no attention to theLord

13 or to the regulations concerning what the priests could demand from the people. Instead, when someone was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork. While the meat was still cooking,

14 he would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever the fork brought out belonged to the priest. All the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices were treated like this.

15 In addition, even before the fat was taken off and burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the one offering the sacrifice, “Give me some meat for the priest to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat.”

16 If the person answered, “Let us do what is right and burn the fat first; then take what you want,” the priest’s servant would say, “No! Give it to me now! If you don’t, I will have to take it by force!”

17 This sin of the sons of Eli was extremely serious in theLord’s sight, because they treated the offerings to theLordwith such disrespect.

Samuel at Shiloh

18 In the meantime the boy Samuel continued to serve theLord, wearing a sacred linen apron.

19 Each year his mother would make a little robe and take it to him when she accompanied her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say to Elkanah, “May theLordgive you other children by this woman to take the place of the one you dedicated to him.”

After that they would go back home.

21 TheLorddid bless Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up in the service of theLord.

Eli and His Sons

22 Eli was now very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to the Israelites and that they were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tent of theLord’s presence.

23 So he said to them, “Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing.

24 Stop it, my sons! This is an awful thing the people of theLordare talking about!

25 If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend the one who is wrong; but who can defend someone who sins against theLord?”

But they would not listen to their father, for theLordhad decided to kill them.

26 The boy Samuel continued to grow and to gain favor both with theLordand with people.

The Prophecy against Eli’s Family

27 A prophet came to Eli with this message from theLord: “When your ancestor Aaron and his family were slaves of the king of Egypt, I revealed myself to Aaron.

28 From all the tribes of Israel I chose his family to be my priests, to serve at the altar, to burn the incense, and to wear the ephodto consult me. And I gave them the right to keep a share of the sacrifices burned on the altar.

29 Why, then, do you look with greedat the sacrifices and offerings which I require from my people? Why, Eli, do you honor your sons more than me by letting them fatten themselves on the best parts of all the sacrifices my people offer to me?

30 I, theLordGod of Israel, promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won’t have it any longer! Instead, I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me.

31 Listen, the time is coming when I will kill all the young men in your family and your clan, so that no man in your family will live to be old.

32 You will be troubled and look with envyon all the blessings I will give to the other people of Israel, but no one in your family will ever again live to old age.

33 Yet I will keep one of your descendants alive, and he will serve me as priest. But hewill become blind and lose all hope, and all your other descendants will die a violent death.

34 When your two sons Hophni and Phinehas both die on the same day, this will show you that everything I have said will come true.

35 I will choose a priest who will be faithful to me and do everything I want him to. I will give him descendants, who will always serve in the presence of my chosen king.

36 Any of your descendants who survive will have to go to that priest and ask him for money and food, and beg to be allowed to help the priests, in order to have something to eat.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/1SA/2-3be19e97edc8726cf2ece0a18a5ffd06.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord Appears to Samuel

1 In those days, when the boy Samuel was serving theLordunder the direction of Eli, there were very few messages from theLord, and visions from him were quite rare.

2 One night Eli, who was now almost blind, was sleeping in his own room;

3 Samuel was sleeping in the sanctuary, where the sacred Covenant Box was. Before dawn, while the lamp was still burning,

4 theLordcalled Samuel. He answered, “Yes, sir!”

5 and ran to Eli and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “I didn’t call you; go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.

6-7 TheLordcalled Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was theLord, because theLordhad never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “My son, I didn’t call you; go back to bed.”

8 TheLordcalled Samuel a third time; he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

Then Eli realized that it was theLordwho was calling the boy,

9 so he said to him, “Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, ‘Speak,Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

10 TheLordcame and stood there, and called as he had before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak; your servant is listening.”

11 TheLordsaid to him, “Some day I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.

12 On that day I will carry out all my threats against Eli’s family, from beginning to end.

13 I have already told himthat I am going to punish his family forever because his sons have spoken evil things against me. Eli knew they were doing this, but he did not stop them.

14 So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin.”

15 Samuel stayed in bed until morning; then he got up and opened the doors of the house of theLord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

16 Eli called him, “Samuel, my boy!”

“Yes, sir,” answered Samuel.

17 “What did theLordtell you?” Eli asked. “Don’t keep anything from me. God will punish you severely if you don’t tell me everything he said.”

18 So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, “He is theLord; he will do whatever seems best to him.”

19 As Samuel grew up, theLordwas with him and made come true everything that Samuel said.

20 So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of theLord.

21 TheLordcontinued to reveal himself at Shiloh, where he had appeared to Samuel and had spoken to him. And when Samuel spoke, all Israel listened.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/1SA/3-9ddd221e5cd0ed92f8de151b9814462c.mp3?version_id=68—

The Capture of the Covenant Box

1 At that time the Philistines gathered to go to war against Israel, sothe Israelites set out to fight them. The Israelites set up their camp at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek.

2 The Philistines attacked, and after fierce fighting they defeated the Israelites and killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.

3 When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, “Why did theLordlet the Philistines defeat us today? Let’s go and bring theLord’s Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that hewill go with us and save us from our enemies.”

4 So they sent messengers to Shiloh and got the Covenant Box of theLordAlmighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures.And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with the Covenant Box.

5 When the Covenant Box arrived, the Israelites gave such a loud shout of joy that the earth shook.

6 The Philistines heard the shouting and said, “Listen to all that shouting in the Hebrew camp! What does it mean?” When they found out that theLord’s Covenant Box had arrived in the Hebrew camp,

7 they were afraid, and said, “A god has come into their camp! We’re lost! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before!

8 Who can save us from those powerful gods? They are the gods who slaughtered the Egyptians in the desert!

9 Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men, or we will become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they were our slaves. So fight like men!”

10 The Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, who went running to their homes. There was a great slaughter: thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed.

11 God’s Covenant Box was captured, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were both killed.

The Death of Eli

12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran all the way from the battlefield to Shiloh and arrived there the same day. To show his grief, he had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head.

13 Eli, who was very worried about the Covenant Box, was sitting in his seat beside the road, staring. The man spread the news throughout the town, and everyone cried out in fear.

14 Eli heard the noise and asked, “What is all this noise about?” The man hurried to Eli to tell him the news. (

15 Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.)

16 The man said, “I have escaped from the battle and have run all the way here today.”

Eli asked him, “What happened, my son?”

17 The messenger answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines; it was a terrible defeat for us! Besides that, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and God’s Covenant Box was captured!”

18 When the man mentioned the Covenant Box, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck, and he died. He had been a leader in Israel for forty years.

The Death of the Widow of Phinehas

19 Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, and it was almost time for her baby to be born. When she heard that God’s Covenant Box had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she suddenly went into labor and gave birth.

20 As she was dying, the women helping her said to her, “Be brave! You have a son!” But she paid no attention and did not answer.

21 She named the boy Ichabod,explaining, “God’s glory has left Israel”—referring to the capture of the Covenant Box and the death of her father-in-law and her husband.

22 “God’s glory has left Israel,” she said, “because God’s Covenant Box has been captured.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/1SA/4-81c0e7f3555731c8a1dbe67efb1e6126.mp3?version_id=68—

The Covenant Box among the Philistines

1 After the Philistines captured the Covenant Box, they carried it from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdod,

2 took it into the temple of their god Dagon, and set it up beside his statue.

3 Early the next morning the people of Ashdod saw that the statue of Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground in front of theLord’s Covenant Box. So they lifted it up and put it back in its place.

4 Early the following morning they saw that the statue had again fallen down in front of the Covenant Box. This time its head and both its arms were broken off and were lying in the doorway; only the body was left. (

5 That is why even today the priests of Dagon and all his worshipers in Ashdod step over that place and do not walk on it.)

6 TheLordpunished the people of Ashdod severely and terrified them. He punished them and the people in the surrounding territory by causing them to have tumors.

7 When they saw what was happening, they said, “The God of Israel is punishing us and our god Dagon. We can’t let the Covenant Box stay here any longer.”

8 So they sent messengers and called together all five of the Philistine kings and asked them, “What shall we do with the Covenant Box of the God of Israel?”

“Take it over to Gath,” they answered; so they took it to Gath, another Philistine city.

9 But after it arrived there, theLordpunished that city too and caused a great panic. He punished them with tumors which developed in all the people of the city, young and old alike.

10 So they sent the Covenant Box to Ekron, another Philistine city; but when it arrived there, the people cried out, “They have brought the Covenant Box of the God of Israel here, in order to kill us all!”

11 So again they sent for all the Philistine kings and said, “Send the Covenant Box of Israel back to its own place, so that it won’t kill us and our families.” There was panic throughout the city because God was punishing them so severely.

12 Even those who did not die developed tumors and the people cried out to their gods for help.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/1SA/5-b17ac576a9559e4c23dd9e91f6f05b11.mp3?version_id=68—