CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]. Common English Bible
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my anointed one forever. 36Anyone left from your household will come and beg him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread, saying: 'Please appoint me to some priestly duty so I can have a scrap of bread to eat.'"
Samuel's call
1Samuel 3Now the boy Samuel was serving the LORD under Eli. The LORD's word was rare at that time, and visions weren't widely known. 2One day Eli, whose eyes had grown so weak he was unable to see, was lying down in his room. 3God's lamp hadn't gone out yet, and Samuel was lying down in the LORD's temple, where God's chesta was.
4The LORD called to Samuel. "I'm here," he said.
5Samuel hurried to Eli and said, "I'm here. You called me?"
"I didn't call you," Eli replied. "Go lie down." So he did.
6Again the LORD called Samuel, so Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, "I'm here. You called me?"
"I didn't call, my son," Eli replied. "Go and lie down."
(7Now Samuel didn't yet know the LORD, and the LORD's word hadn't yet been revealed to him.)
8A third time the LORD called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, "I'm here. You called me?"
Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy. 9So Eli said to Samuel, "Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD. Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down where he'd been.
10Then the LORD came and stood there, calling just as before, "Samuel, Samuel!"
Samuel said, "Speak. Your servant is listening."
11The LORD said to Samuel, "I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of all who hear it tingle!12On that day, I will bring to pass against Eli everything I said about his household--every last bit of it!b 13I told him that I would punish his family forever because of the wrongdoing he knew about--how his sons were cursing God,c but he wouldn't stop them. 14Because of that I swore about Eli's household that his family's wrongdoing will never be reconciled by sacrifice or by offering."
15Samuel lay there until morning, then opened the doors of the LORD's house. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16But Eli called Samuel, saying: "Samuel, my son!"
"I'm here," Samuel said.
17"What did he say to you?" Eli asked. "Don't hide anything from me. May God deal harshly with you and worse still if you hide from me a single word from everything he said to you."18So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
"He is the LORD, " Eli said. "He will do as he pleases."
19So Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not allowing any of his words to fail. 20All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was trustworthy as the LORD's prophet. 21The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh because the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh through the LORD's own word.
1Samuel 4And Samuel's word went out to all Israel.
The Philistines capture God's chest
In those days the Philistines gathered for war against Israel,d so Israel went out to engage the Philistines in war. Israel camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2The Philistines readied themselves to fight Israel. When the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3When the troops returned to the camp, Israel's elders said, "Why did the LORD defeat us today before the Philistines? Let's bring the chest containing the LORD's covenant from Shiloh so it can go with us and save us from our enemies' power."4So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the chest containing the covenant of the LORD of heavenly forces, who sits enthroned on the winged heavenly creatures.e Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the chest containing God's covenant.
5When the chest containing the LORD's covenant entered the camp, all Israel let out such a loud shout that the ground shook. 6When the Philistines heard the sound of that shout, they asked, "What is that loud shouting in the Hebrew camp about?" When they learned that the LORD's chest had come into the camp, 7the Philistines were afraid and said, "A god has come into that camp! We're doomed," they said, "because nothing like this has ever happened before. 8We're doomed! Who will deliver us from the grip of these powerful deities? They are the same gods who struck the Egyptians in the desert with every kind of wound. 9Pull yourselves together and act like men, Philistines! Otherwise, you'll serve the Hebrews like they've been serving you. Act like men and fight!"
10So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated, and everyone fled to their homes. It was a massive defeat: thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fell, 11God's chest was taken, and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.
12That very day, a Benjaminite ran from the battle to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head. 13When he got there, Eli was sitting in a chair beside the road, waiting because he was nervous about God's chest. The man arrived and gave the news to the city, and the whole city cried out.
14Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, "What's all this noise about?"
The man hurriedly went and told Eli the news. (15Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.) 16The man told Eli, "I'm the one who just came from the battle. I fled from the battle today."
"What's the report, my son?" Eli asked.
17The messenger answered, "Israel has fled from the Philistines. The army has suffered a massive defeat. Also, your own two sons Hophni and Phinehas have died, and God's chest has been taken!"18At the mention of God's chest, Eli fell backward off the chair beside the gate. His neck broke, and he died because he was an old man and overweight. Eli had judged Israel for forty years.
19Now Eli's daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news that God's chest had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she doubled over and gave birth because her labor pains overwhelmed her. 20As she was about to die, the women standing by helping her said, "Don't be afraid. You've given birth to a son!" But she didn't answer or pay them any attention. 21She named the boy Ichabod,f saying, "The glory has left Israel," referring to the capture of God's chest and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. 22"The glory has left Israel because God's chest has been taken," she said.
God's chest among the Philistines
1Samuel 5After the Philistines took God's chest, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then the Philistines took God's chest and brought it into Dagon's temple and set it next to Dagon. 3But when the citizens of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen facedown on the ground before the LORD's chest! So they took Dagon and set him back up where he belonged. 4But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon again, fallen facedown on the ground before the LORD's chest--and this time Dagon's head along with both his hands were cut off and lying on the doorstep! Only Dagon's bodyg was left intact. 5That's why to this day Dagon's priests or anyone else who enters his temple in Ashdod doesn't step on the threshold.
6The LORD's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod: God terrified them and struck them in Ashdod and its surroundings with tumors.h 7When Ashdod's inhabitants saw what was happening, they said, "The chest of Israel's God must not stay here with us because his hand is hard against us and against our god Dagon."
8So they summoned all the Philistine rulers to a meeting