Dual Panel1The men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the Ark of the LORD away; they brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill and consecrated his son Eleazar as its custodian.
Samuel judge over Israel
2FOR a long while, some twenty years in all, the Ark was housed in Kiriath-jearim. Then there was a movement throughout Israel to follow the LORD,
3and Samuel addressed these words to the whole nation: “If your return to the LORD is whole-hearted, banish the foreign gods and the ashtaroth from your shrines; turn to the LORD with heart and mind, and worship him alone, and he will deliver you from the Philistines.”
4So the Israelites banished the baalim and the ashtaroth, and worshipped the LORD alone.
5Samuel summoned all Israel to an assembly at Mizpah, so that he might intercede with the LORD for them.
6When they had assembled, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted all day, confessing that they had sinned against the LORD. It was at Mizpah that Samuel acted as judge over Israel.
7When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had assembled at Mizpah, their lords marched against them. The Israelites heard that the Philistines were advancing, and they were afraid
8and begged Samuel, “Do not cease to pray for us to the LORD our God to save us from the power of the Philistines.”
9Samuel took a sucking-lamb, offered it up complete as a whole-offering, and prayed aloud to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered his prayer.
10As Samuel was offering the sacrifice and the Philistines were advancing to the attack, the LORD with mighty thunder threw the Philistines into confusion. They fled in panic before the Israelites,
11who set out from Mizpah in pursuit and kept up the slaughter of the Philistines till they reached a point below Beth-car.
12There Samuel took a stone and set it up as a monument between Mizpah and Jeshanah, naming it Eben-ezer. “This is a witness”, he said, “that the LORD has helped us.”
13Thus the Philistines were subdued and no longer encroached on the territory of Israel; as long as Samuel lived, the hand of the LORD was against them.
14The towns they had captured were restored to Israel, and from Ekron to Gath the borderland was freed from Philistine control. Between Israel and the Amorites also peace was maintained.
15Samuel acted as judge in Israel as long as he lived,
16and every year went on circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; he dispensed justice at all these places.
17But always he went back to Ramah; that was his home and the place from which he governed Israel, and there he built an altar to the LORD.