1Samuel:4-7
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And the word of Samuel came to all Israel .
Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle ,
and pitched beside Ebenezer :
and the Philistines pitched in Aphek .
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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 .
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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 ,
when it cometh among us ,
it may save us out of the hand of our enemies .
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So the people sent to Shiloh ,
that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts ,
which dwelleth between the cherubims :
and the two sons of Eli ,
Hophni and Phinehas ,
were there with the ark of the covenant of God .
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And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp ,
all Israel shouted with a great shout ,
so that the earth rang again .
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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 was come into the camp .
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And the Philistines were afraid ,
for they said ,
God is come into the camp .
And they said ,
Woe unto us !
for there hath not been such a thing heretofore .
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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 the plagues in the wilderness .
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Be strong ,
and quit yourselves like men ,
O ye Philistines ,
that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews ,
as they have been to you :
quit yourselves like men ,
and fight .
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And the Philistines fought ,
and Israel was smitten ,
and they fled every man into his tent :
and there was a very great slaughter ;
for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen .
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And the ark of God was taken ;
and the two sons of Eli ,
Hophni and Phinehas ,
were slain .
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And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army ,
and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent ,
and with earth upon his head .
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And when he came ,
lo ,
Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside 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 .
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And when Eli heard the noise of the crying ,
he said ,
What meaneth the noise of this tumult ?
And the man came in hastily ,
and told Eli .
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Now Eli was ninety and eight years old ;
and his eyes were dim ,
that he could not see .
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And the man said unto Eli ,
I am he that came out of the army ,
and I fled to day out of the army .
And he said ,
What is there done ,
my son ?
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And the messenger 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 .
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And it came to pass ,
when he made mention of the ark of God ,
that he fell from off the 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 .
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And his daughter 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 travailed ;
for her pains came upon her .
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And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her ,
Fear not ;
for thou hast born a son .
But she answered not ,
neither did she regard it .
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And she named the child Ichabod ,
saying ,
The glory is departed from Israel :
because the ark of God was taken ,
and because of her father in law and her husband .
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And she said ,
The glory is departed from Israel :
for the ark of God is taken .
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And the Philistines took the ark of God ,
and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod .
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When the Philistines took the ark of God ,
they brought it into the house of Dagon ,
and set it by Dagon .
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And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow ,
behold ,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD .
And they took Dagon ,
and set him in his place again .
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And when they arose early on the morrow morning ,
behold ,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD ;
and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold ;
only the stump of Dagon was left to him .
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Therefore neither the priests of Dagon ,
nor any that come into Dagon '
s house ,
tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day .
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But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod ,
and he destroyed them ,
and smote them with emerods ,
even Ashdod and the coasts thereof .
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And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so ,
they said ,
The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us :
for his hand is sore upon us ,
and upon Dagon our god .
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They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them ,
and said ,
What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel ?
And they answered ,
Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath .
And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither .
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And it was so ,
that ,
after they had carried it about ,
the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction :
and he smote the men of the city ,
both small and great ,
and they had emerods in their secret parts .
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Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron .
And it came to pass ,
as the ark of God came to Ekron ,
that the Ekronites cried out ,
saying ,
They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us ,
to slay us and our people .
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So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines ,
and said ,
Send away the ark of the God of Israel ,
and let it go again to his own place ,
that it slay us not ,
and our people :
for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city ;
the hand of God was very heavy there .
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And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods :
and the cry of the city went up to heaven .
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And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months .
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And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners ,
saying ,
What shall we do to the ark of the LORD ?
tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place .
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And they said ,
If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel ,
send it not empty ;
but in any wise return him a trespass offering :
then ye shall be healed ,
and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you .
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Then said they ,
What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him ?
They answered ,
Five golden emerods ,
and five golden mice ,
according to the number of the lords of the Philistines :
for one plague was on you all ,
and on your lords .
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Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods ,
and images of your mice that mar the land ;
and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel :
peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you ,
and from off your gods ,
and from off your land .
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Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts ,
as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts ?
when he had wrought wonderfully among them ,
did they not let the people go ,
and they departed ?
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Now therefore make a new cart ,
and take two milch kine ,
on which there hath come no yoke ,
and tie the kine to the cart ,
and bring their calves home from them :
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And take the ark of the LORD ,
and lay it upon the cart ;
and put the jewels of gold ,
which ye return him for a trespass offering ,
in a coffer by the side thereof ;
and send it away ,
that it may go .
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And see ,
if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh ,
then he hath done us this great evil :
but if not ,
then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us :
it was a chance that happened to us .
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And the men did so ;
and took two milch kine ,
and tied them to the cart ,
and shut up their calves at home :
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And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart ,
and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods .
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And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh ,
and went along the highway ,
lowing as they went ,
and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left ;
and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh .
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And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley :
and they lifted up their eyes ,
and saw the ark ,
and rejoiced to see it .
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And the cart came into the field of Joshua ,
a Bethshemite ,
and stood there ,
where there was a great stone :
and they clave the wood of the cart ,
and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD .
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And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD ,
and the coffer that was with it ,
wherein the jewels of gold were ,
and put them on the great stone :
and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD .
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And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it ,
they returned to Ekron the same day .
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And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD ;
for Ashdod one ,
for Gaza one ,
for Askelon one ,
for Gath one ,
for Ekron one ;
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And the golden mice ,
according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords ,
both of fenced cities ,
and of country villages ,
even unto the great stone of Abel ,
whereon they set down the ark of the LORD :
which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua ,
the Bethshemite .
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And he smote the men of Bethshemesh ,
because they had looked into the ark of the LORD ,
even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men :
and the people lamented ,
because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter .
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And the men of Bethshemesh said ,
Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God ?
and to whom shall he go up from us ?
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And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim ,
saying ,
The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD ;
come ye down ,
and fetch it up to you .
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And the men of Kirjathjearim came ,
and fetched up the ark of the LORD ,
and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill ,
and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD .
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And it came to pass ,
while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim ,
that the time was long ;
for it was twenty years :
and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD .
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And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel ,
saying ,
If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts ,
then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you ,
and prepare your hearts unto the LORD ,
and serve him only :
and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines .
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Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth ,
and served the LORD only .
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And Samuel said ,
Gather all Israel to Mizpeh ,
and I will pray for you unto the LORD .
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And they gathered together to Mizpeh ,
and drew water ,
and poured it out before the LORD ,
and fasted on that day ,
and said there ,
We have sinned against the LORD .
And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh .
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And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh ,
the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel .
And when the children of Israel heard it ,
they were afraid of the Philistines .
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And the children of Israel said to Samuel ,
Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us ,
that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines .
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And Samuel took a sucking lamb ,
and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD :
and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel ;
and the LORD heard him .
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And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering ,
the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel :
but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines ,
and discomfited them ;
and they were smitten before Israel .
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And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh ,
and pursued the Philistines ,
and smote them ,
until they came under Bethcar .
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Then Samuel took a stone ,
and set it between Mizpeh and Shen ,
and called the name of it Ebenezer ,
saying ,
Hitherto hath the LORD helped us .
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So the Philistines were subdued ,
and they came no more into the coast of Israel :
and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel .
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And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel ,
from Ekron even unto Gath ;
and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines .
And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites .
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And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life .
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And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel ,
and Gilgal ,
and Mizpeh ,
and judged Israel in all those places .
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And his return was to Ramah ;
for there was his house ;
and there he judged Israel ;
and there he built an altar unto the LORD .
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And it came to pass ,
when Samuel was old ,
that he made his sons judges over Israel .
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