1 Samuel 7

1 and to come (in): come human Kiriath-jearim Kiriath-jearim and to ascend: establish [obj] ark LORD and to come (in): bring [obj] him to(wards) house: home Abinadab in/on/with hill and [obj] Eleazar son: child his to consecrate: consecate to/for to keep: guard [obj] ark 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 to be from day to dwell [the] ark in/on/with Kiriath-jearim Kiriath-jearim and to multiply [the] day and to be twenty year and to wail all house: household Israel after 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 to say Samuel to(wards) all house: household Israel to/for to say if in/on/with all heart your you(m. p.) to return: return to(wards) LORD to turn aside: remove [obj] God [the] foreign from midst your and [the] Ashtaroth and to establish: commit heart your to(wards) LORD and to serve him to/for alone him and to rescue [obj] you from hand: power Philistine

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 and to turn aside: remove son: descendant/people Israel [obj] [the] Baal and [obj] [the] Ashtaroth and to serve [obj] LORD to/for alone him

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

5 and to say Samuel to gather [obj] all Israel [the] Mizpah [to] and to pray about/through/for you to(wards) LORD

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

6 and to gather [the] Mizpah [to] and to draw water and to pour: pour to/for face: before LORD and to fast in/on/with day [the] he/she/it and to say there to sin to/for LORD and to judge Samuel [obj] son: descendant/people Israel in/on/with Mizpah

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 to hear: hear Philistine for to gather son: descendant/people Israel [the] Mizpah [to] and to ascend: rise lord Philistine to(wards) Israel and to hear: hear son: descendant/people Israel and to fear from face of Philistine

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 to say son: descendant/people Israel to(wards) Samuel not be quiet from us from to cry out to(wards) LORD God our and to save us from hand: power Philistine

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

9 and to take: take Samuel lamb milk one (and to ascend: offer up him *Q(K)*) burnt offering entire to/for LORD and to cry out Samuel to(wards) LORD about/through/for Israel and to answer him LORD

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 to be Samuel to ascend: offer up [the] burnt offering and Philistine to approach: approach to/for battle in/on/with Israel and to thunder LORD in/on/with voice: sound great: large in/on/with day [the] he/she/it upon Philistine and to confuse them and to strike to/for face: before 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 to come out: come human Israel from [the] Mizpah and to pursue [obj] Philistine and to smite them till from underneath: under to/for Beth-car Beth-car

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 to take: take Samuel stone one and to set: make between [the] Mizpah and between [the] Shen and to call: call by [obj] name her Ebenezer Ebenezer and to say till here/thus to help us LORD

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 be humble [the] Philistine and not to add: again still to/for to come (in): come in/on/with border: area Israel and to be hand: power LORD in/on/with Philistine all day 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 to return: rescue [the] city which to take: take Philistine from with Israel to/for Israel from Ekron and till Gath and [obj] border: area their to rescue Israel from hand: power Philistine and to be peace between Israel and between [the] Amorite

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 to judge Samuel [obj] Israel all day life his

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

16 and to go: went from sufficiency year in/on/with year and to turn: surround Bethel Bethel and [the] Gilgal and [the] Mizpah and to judge [obj] Israel [obj] all [the] place [the] these

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 turn his [the] Ramah [to] for there house: home his and there to judge [obj] Israel and to build there altar to/for 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.