1 Samuel 6:19--7:17

6:19 But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow. 6:20 The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark ³  go up from here?”

6:21 So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”

7:1 Then the people ⁴  of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

Further Conflict with the Philistines

7:2 It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ⁵  of Israel longed for ⁶  the Lord. 7:3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. ⁷  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ⁸  from the hand of the Philistines.” 7:4 So the Israelites ⁹  removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.

7:5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” 7:6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed ¹⁰  there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led ¹¹  the people of Israel at Mizpah.

7:7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the leaders of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. 7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ¹²  crying out to the Lord our ¹³  God so that he may save us ¹⁴  from the hand of the Philistines!” 7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ¹⁵  and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ¹⁶  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ¹⁷  Israel. 7:11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ¹⁸  He named it Ebenezer, ¹⁹  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.” 7:13 So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

7:14 The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control ²⁰  of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites. 7:15 So Samuel led ²¹  Israel all the days of his life. 7:16 Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel, ²²  Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all of these places. 7:17 Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged ²³  Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ² tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here.

[6:20]  ³ tn Heb “he” or “it”; the referent here (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. also NIV, CEV, NLT). Others, however, take the referent to be the Lord himself.

[7:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “men.”

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “mourned after”; NIV “mourned and sought after”; KJV, NRSV “lamented after”; NAB “turned to”; NCV “began to follow…again.”

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural; also in the following verse). The words “images of” are supplied for clarity.

[7:3]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. The presence of Ashtarot in Israel is a sign of pervasive pagan and idolatrous influences; hence Samuel calls for their removal. See 1 Sam 31:10, where the Philistines deposit the armor of the deceased Saul in the temple of the Ashtarot, and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13, where Solomon is faulted for worshiping the Ashtarot.

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[7:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “judged”; NAB “began to judge”; TEV “settled disputes among.”

[7:8]  ¹² tn Heb “don’t stop.”

[7:8]  ¹³ tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

[7:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “before.”

[7:12]  ¹⁸ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ¹⁹ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[7:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[7:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “judged” (also in v. 17).

[7:16]  ²² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:17]  ²³ tn Or perhaps “settled disputes for” (cf. NLT “would hear cases there”; NRSV “administered justice there”).