1 Samuel 7

1 And then men of Cariathiarim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and carried it into the house of Abinadab in Gabaa: and they sanctified Eleazar his son, to keep the ark of the Lord.

[When] the men of Kiriath-Jearim [received that message, they] came to Beth-Shemesh and took the sacred chest of Yahweh. They took it to the house of Abinadab, which was on a hillside. They appointed Abinadab’s son Eleazar to take care of the chest.

2 And it came to pass, that from the day the ark of the Lord abode in Cariathiarim days were multiplied, (for it was now the twentieth year, ) and all the house of Israel rested following the Lord.

The sacred chest stayed in Kiriath-Jearim for a long time—a total of 20 years. During that time all the people of Israel mourned [because it seemed that] Yahweh [had abandoned them] (OR, [and then they asked] Yahweh [to help them]).

3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If you turn to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

Then Samuel said to all the Israeli people, “If you truly [IDM] want to act like Yahweh’s people should, you must get rid of your statues of [the goddess] Astarte and the idols/statues of all the other foreign gods. You must decide to serve/worship only Yahweh. If you do that, he will rescue you from [the power of] [MTY] the Philistia people.”

4 Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only.

So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.

5 And Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Masphath, that I may pray to the Lord for you.

Then Samuel told them, “All you Israeli people must gather with me at Mizpah. Then I will pray to Yahweh for you.”

6 And they gathered together to Masphath: and they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath.

So they gathered at Mizpah, which was the town where Samuel previously was the leader of the Israeli people. They had a big ceremony there. They drew water [from a well], and poured the water on the ground while Yahweh watched. [To show that they were sorry for having worshiped idols], they did not eat any food on that day, and they confessed that they had sinned against Yahweh.

7 And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Masphath, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines.

When the kings of the Philistia area heard that the Israeli people had gathered at Mizpah, they led their armies there to attack the Israelis. When the Israelis found out that the Philistia army was approaching them, they became very afraid.

8 And they said to Samuel: Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

They told Samuel, “Pray to Yahweh to rescue us from the Philistia army [MTY], and do not stop pleading!”

9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it whole for a holocaust to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.

So Samuel took a very young lamb [and killed it] and offered it to Yahweh to be a sacrifice that was completely burned [on the altar]. Then he prayed and pleaded that Yahweh [would help] the Israelis, and Yahweh did help them.

10 And it came to pass, when Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines began the battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and terrified them, and they were overthrown before the face of Israel.

While Samuel was burning the offering, the Philistia army came near to attack the Israelis. But Yahweh caused it to thunder very loudly. The soldiers of the Philistia army became very frightened, and then they (became confused/did not know what to do). So the Israelis were able to defeat them.

11 And the men of Israel going out of Masphath pursued after the Philistines, and made slaughter of them till they came under Bethchar.

The Israeli men ran out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistia soldiers almost to Beth-Car [town], and killed many Philistia soldiers while they were trying to run away.

12 And Samuel took a stone, and laid it between Masphath and Sen: and he called the place, the Stone of help. And he said: Thus far the Lord hath helped us.

After that happened, Samuel took a large stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah [towns]. He named the stone ‘Ebenezer’, [which means ‘stone of help’], because he said “Yahweh has helped us until the present time.”

13 And the Philistines were humbled, and they did not come any more into the borders of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines, all the days of Samuel.

So the Philistia people were defeated, and for a long time they did not enter the Israeli land [to attack them] again. During the time that Samuel was alive, Yahweh powerfully protected [MTY] [the Israeli people] from [being attacked by] the Philistia army.

14 And the cities, which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were restored to Israel, from Accaron to Geth, and their borders: and he delivered Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorrhites.

The Israeli army was able to capture again the Israeli villages between Ekron and Gath that the Philistia army had captured before. The Israelis were also able to take again the other areas around those cities that the Philistia army had taken [from the Israelis] previously. And there was peace between the Israelis and the Amor people-group.

15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life:

Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israeli people until he died.

16 And he went every year about to Bethel and to Galgal and to Masphath, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid places.

As long as he was alive, every year he traveled back and forth between Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah [cities]. In those cities he listened to disputes between people and made decisions about them.

17 And he returned to Ramatha, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel: he built also there an altar to the Lord.

After he listened to disputes and made decisions in each of those towns, he returned to his home at Ramah, and he would listen to people’s disputes there, also, [and make decisions about them]. And he built an altar at Ramah [to offer sacrifices] to Yahweh.