- Early World
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- Egypt and Exodus
- Desert Wanderings
- Conquest and Judges
- Royal Kingdom
- Divided Kingdom
- Exile
- Royal Kingdom
- Divided Kingdom
- Exile
- Return
- Maccabean Revolt
- Wisdom & Poetry
- Exile
- Divided Kingdom
- Return
- Messianic Fulfillment
- The Church
1 Samuel 2-5
1 Samuel Chapter 2
1Hannah prayed, and said, âMy heart exults in the LORD! My horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2There is no one as holy as the LORD, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. 3âDonât keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Donât let arrogance come out of your mouth, for the LORD is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. 4âThe bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength. 5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes. 6âThe LORD kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up. 7The LORD makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. 8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORDâs. He has set the world on them. 9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength. 10Those who strive with the LORD shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. âThe LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.â 11Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served the LORD before Eli the priest. 12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didnât know the LORD. 13The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priestâs servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; 14and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15Yes, before they burned the fat, the priestâs servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, âGive meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.â 16If the man said to him, âLet the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires;â then he would say, âNo, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.â 17The sin of the young men was very great before the LORD; for the men despised the LORDâs offering. 18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 19Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, âMay the LORD give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of the LORD.â Then they went to their own home. 21The LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before the LORD. 22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 23He said to them, âWhy do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make the LORDâs people disobey. 25If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?â Notwithstanding, they didnât listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD intended to kill them. 26The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with the LORD and also with men. 27A man of God came to Eli and said to him, âThe LORD says, âDid I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaohâs house? 28Didnât I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didnât I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?â 30âTherefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says, âI said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.â But now the LORD says, âFar be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. 31Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your fatherâs house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 32You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33The man of yours whom I donât cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. 34This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. 35I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever. 36It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, âPlease put me into one of the priestsâ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.â â â
1 Samuel Chapter 3
1The child Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. The LORDâs word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then. 2At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), 3and Godâs lamp hadnât yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in the LORDâs temple where Godâs ark was, 4The LORD called Samuel. He said, âHere I am.â 5He ran to Eli and said, âHere I am; for you called me.â He said, âI didnât call. Lie down again.â He went and lay down. 6The LORD called yet again, âSamuel!â Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, âHere I am; for you called me.â He answered, âI didnât call, my son. Lie down again.â 7Now Samuel didnât yet know the LORD, neither was the LORDâs word yet revealed to him. 8The LORD called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, âHere I am; for you called me.â Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, âGo, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, âSpeak, LORD; for your servant hears.â â So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10The LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, âSamuel! Samuel!â Then Samuel said, âSpeak; for your servant hears.â 11The LORD said to Samuel, âBehold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. 13For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didnât restrain them. 14Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eliâs house shall not be removed with sacrifice or offering forever.â 15Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the LORDâs house. Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision. 16Then Eli called Samuel and said, âSamuel, my son!â He said, âHere I am.â 17He said, âWhat is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please donât hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.â 18Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, âIt is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.â 19Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD. 21The LORD appeared again in Shiloh; for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the LORDâs word.
1 Samuel Chapter 4
1The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2The Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. When they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3When the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, âWhy has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Letâs get the ark of the LORDâs covenant out of Shiloh and bring it to us, that it may come among us and save us out of the hand of our enemies.â 4So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5When the ark of the LORDâs covenant came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. 6When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, âWhat does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?â They understood that the LORDâs ark had come into the camp. 7The Philistines were afraid, for they said, âGod has come into the camp.â They said, âWoe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. 8Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!â 10The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell. 11Godâs ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. 12A man of Benjamin ran out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. 13When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for Godâs ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out. 14When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, âWhat does the noise of this tumult mean?â The man hurried, and came and told Eli. 15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see. 16The man said to Eli, âI am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.â He said, âHow did the matter go, my son?â 17He who brought the news answered, âIsrael has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and Godâs ark has been captured.â 18When he made mention of Godâs ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years. 19His daughter-in-law, Phinehasâ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that Godâs ark was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. 20About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, âDonât be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.â But she didnât answer, neither did she regard it. 21She named the child Ichabod, saying, âThe glory has departed from Israel!â because Godâs ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22She said, âThe glory has departed from Israel; for Godâs ark has been taken.â
1 Samuel Chapter 5
1Now the Philistines had taken Godâs ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2The Philistines took Godâs ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORDâs ark. They took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORDâs ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagonâs torso was intact. 5Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagonâs house step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 6But the LORDâs hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. 7When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, âThe ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.â 8They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, âWhat shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?â They answered, âLet the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.â They carried the ark of the God of Israel there. 9It was so, that after they had carried it there, the LORDâs hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great, so that tumors broke out on them. 10So they sent Godâs ark to Ekron. As Godâs ark came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, âThey have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to us, to kill us and our people.â 11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, âSend the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.â For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12The men who didnât die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
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