nkjv 1Samuel:3-5 SEEK
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Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli .
And the word of the LORD was rare in those days ;
there was no widespread revelation .
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And it came to pass at that time ,
while Eli was lying down in his place ,
and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see ,
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and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was ,
and while Samuel was lying down ,
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that the LORD called Samuel .
And he answered , "
Here I am !"
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So he ran to Eli and said , "
Here I am ,
for you called me ."
And he said , "
I did not call ;
lie down again ."
And he went and lay down .
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Then the LORD called yet again , "
Samuel !"
So Samuel arose and went to Eli ,
and said , "
Here I am ,
for you called me ."
He answered , "
I did not call ,
my son ;
lie down again ."
* (
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD ,
nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him .)
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And the LORD called Samuel again the third time .
So he arose and went to Eli ,
and said , "
Here I am ,
for you did call me ."
Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy .
*
Therefore Eli said to Samuel , "
Go ,
lie down ;
and it shall be ,
if He calls you ,
that you must say , "
Speak ,
LORD ,
for Your servant hears ."'
So Samuel went and lay down in his place .
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Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times , "
Samuel !
Samuel !"
And Samuel answered , "
Speak ,
for Your servant hears ."
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Then the LORD said to Samuel : "
Behold ,
I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle .
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In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house ,
from beginning to end .
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For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows ,
because his sons made themselves vile ,
and he did not restrain them .
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And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli '
s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever ."
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So Samuel lay down until morning ,
and opened the doors of the house of the LORD .
And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision .
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Then Eli called Samuel and said , "
Samuel ,
my son !"
He answered , "
Here I am ."
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And he said , "
What is the word that the LORD spoke to you ?
Please do not hide it from me .
God do so to you ,
and more also ,
if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you ."
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Then Samuel told him everything ,
and hid nothing from him .
And he said , "
It is the LORD .
Let Him do what seems good to Him ."
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So Samuel grew ,
and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground .
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And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD .
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Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh .
For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD .
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And the word of Samuel came to all Israel .
Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines ,
and encamped beside Ebenezer ;
and the Philistines encamped in Aphek .
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Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel .
And when they joined battle ,
Israel was defeated by the Philistines ,
who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field .
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And when the people had come into the camp ,
the elders of Israel said , "
Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines ?
Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us ,
that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies ."
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So the people sent to Shiloh ,
that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts ,
who dwells between the cherubim .
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 so loudly that the earth shook .
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Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout ,
they said , "
What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean ?"
Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp .
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So the Philistines were afraid ,
for they said , "
God has come into the camp !"
And they said , "
Woe to us !
For such a thing has never happened before .
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Woe to us !
Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods ?
These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness .
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Be strong and conduct yourselves like men ,
you Philistines ,
that you do not become servants of the Hebrews ,
as they have been to you .
Conduct yourselves like men ,
and fight !"
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So the Philistines fought ,
and Israel was defeated ,
and every man fled to his tent .
There was a very great slaughter ,
and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers .
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Also the ark of God was captured ;
and the two sons of Eli ,
Hophni and Phinehas ,
died .
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Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day ,
and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head .
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Now when he came ,
there was Eli ,
sitting on 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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When Eli heard the noise of the outcry ,
he said , "
What does the sound of this tumult mean ?"
And the man came quickly and told Eli .
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Eli was ninety-eight years old ,
and his eyes were so dim that he could not see .
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Then the man said to Eli , "
I am he who came from the battle .
And I fled today from the battle line ."
And he said , "
What happened ,
my son ?"
*
So the messenger answered and said , "
Israel has fled before the Philistines ,
and there has been a great slaughter among the people .
Also your two sons ,
Hophni and Phinehas ,
are dead ;
and the ark of God has been captured ."
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Then it happened ,
when he made mention of the ark of God ,
that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate ;
and his neck was broken and he died ,
for the man was old and heavy .
And he had judged Israel forty years .
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Now his daughter-in-law ,
Phinehas '
wife ,
was with child ,
due to be delivered ;
and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured ,
and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead ,
she bowed herself and gave birth ,
for her labor pains came upon her .
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And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her , "
Do not fear ,
for you have borne a son ."
But she did not answer ,
nor did she regard it .
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Then she named the child Ichabod ,
saying , "
The glory has departed from Israel !"
because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband .
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And she said , "
The glory has departed from Israel ,
for the ark of God has been captured ."
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Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to 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 the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning ,
there was Dagon ,
fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the LORD .
So they took Dagon and set it in its place again .
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And when they arose early the next morning ,
there was Dagon ,
fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the LORD .
The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold ;
only Dagon '
s torso was left of it .
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Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon '
s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day .
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But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod ,
and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors ,
both Ashdod and its territory .
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And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was ,
they said , "
The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us ,
for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god ."
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Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines ,
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 away to Gath ."
So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away .
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So it was ,
after they had carried it away ,
that the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction ;
and He struck the men of the city ,
both small and great ,
and tumors broke out on them .
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Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron .
So it was ,
as the ark of God came to Ekron ,
that the Ekronites cried out ,
saying , "
They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us ,
to kill 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 back to its own place ,
so that it does not kill us 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 who did not die were stricken with the tumors ,
and the cry of the city went up to heaven .
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Now the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months .