but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. And the child 26 Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.

And there came a man of God unto Eli, and 27 said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father, when 1 Or, in Pha- they were in Egypt 'in bondage to Pharaoh's

raoh's house

2 Or, And I chose

3 Or, offer upon

4 Or, and gave

ye upon...and upon

house? And did I choose him out of all the 28 tribes of Israel to be my priest, to 'go up unto mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Or, trample Israel made by fire? Wherefore 'kick ye at my 29 sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, saith, I 30 said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Be- 31 hold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt behold 'the affliction of my hab- 32 itation, in all the wealth which God shall give

6 Or, an adversary in my

habitation

7 Or, Yet will

I not cut off every man of thine from

mine altar,

Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. "And the man of thine, 33 whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall to consume &c. be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart and all the increase of thine house shall die 'in the flower of their age. And this shall 34 sword of men. be the sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy

8 Heb. when

they be men.

The Sept.

has, by the

3 I

two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day 35 they shall die both of them. And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall 36 walk before mine anointed for ever. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread. And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was 'precious in those days; there was no 2 'open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, (now his eyes had begun to wax dim, that he could not 3 see,) and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was; 4 that the LORD called Samuel: and he said, 5 Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he 6 went and lay down. And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he answered, I called not, my son; 7 lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the 8 LORD yet revealed unto him. And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that 9 the LORD had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel

Or, rare
Or, frequent

Heb. widely spread.

1 The Sept. has, speak evil of God.

2

went and lay down in his place.

And the LORD 10

came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak; for thy servant heareth. And the LORD said to 11 Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform 12 against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even unto the end. For I have told him that I will judge his house 13 for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons 'did bring a curse upon themselves, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have 14 sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity Or, expiated of Eli's house shall not be 'purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. And Samuel lay until 15 the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel, and said, 16 Samuel, my son. And he said, Here am I. And he said, What is the thing that the LORD 17 hath spoken unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he spake unto thee. And Samuel 18 told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel grew, and 19 the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from 20 Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD. And 21 the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD. And the word of 1 4

3 See ch. vii.

12.

Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside 'Eben-ezer: and

I

!

1 Or, the battle was spread

Heb. array.

between

2 the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the
Philistines put themselves in array against
Israel: and when 'they joined battle, Israel was
smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of
the 'army in the field about four thousand men.
3 And when the people were come into the camp,
the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the
LORD smitten us to-day before the Philistines?
Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD
out of Shiloh unto us, that it may come among
us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.
4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought
from thence the ark of the covenant of the
LORD of hosts, which 'sitteth upon the cherubim: Or, dwelleth
and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,
were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD
came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a
6 great shout, so that the earth rang again. And
when the Philistines heard the noise of the
shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of
this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?
And they understood that the ark of the LORD
7 was come into the camp. And the Philistines
were afraid, for they said, God is come into the
camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there
8 hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe
unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand
of these mighty gods? these are the gods that
smote the Egyptians with all manner of 'plagues Heb.
9 in the wilderness. Be strong, and quit your-
selves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be
not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have
been to you: quit yourselves like men, and
10 fight. And the Philistines fought, and Israel
was smitten, and they fled every man to his
tent and there was a very great slaughter;
for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.

smiting.

And the ark of God was taken; and the two II sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the 12 1 Heb. array. 1army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon his seat 13 'by the way side watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard the noise of the 14 crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man hasted, and came and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight years 15 3 See 1 Kings old; and his eyes were 'set, that he could not

2 The Sept. has, beside the

gate, watching the way.

xiv. 4.

4 That is,

There is no

glory.

see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that 16
came out of the 'army, and I fled to-day out of
the 'army. And he said, How went the mat-
ter, my son? And he that brought the tidings 17
answered and said, Israel is fled before the
Philistines, and there hath been also a great
slaughter among the people, and thy two sons
also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the
ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, 18
when he made mention of the ark of God, that
he fell from off his seat backward by the side
of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died:
for he was an old man, and heavy. And he
had judged Israel forty years. And his daughter 19
in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to
be delivered and when she heard the tidings
that the ark of God was taken, and that her
father in law and her husband were dead, she
bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains
came upon her. And about the time of her 20
death the women that stood by her said unto
her, Fear not; for thou hast brought forth a
But she answered not, neither did she
And she named the child 'Ichabod, 21

son.

regard it.