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In those days, when the boy Samuel was serving the LORD under the direction of Eli, there were very few messages from the LORD, and visions from him were quite rare.
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One night Eli, who was now almost blind, was sleeping in his own room;
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Samuel was sleeping in the sanctuary, where the sacred Covenant Box was. Before dawn, while the lamp was still burning,
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the LORD called Samuel. He answered, "Yes, sir!"
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and ran to Eli and said, "You called me, and here I am." But Eli answered, "I didn't call you; go back to bed." So Samuel went back to bed.
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The LORD called Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was the LORD, because the LORD had never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, "You called me, and here I am." But Eli answered, "My son, I didn't call you; go back to bed."
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The LORD called Samuel a third time; he got up, went to Eli, and said, "You called me, and here I am." Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy,
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so he said to him, "Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, 'Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went back to bed.
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The LORD came and stood there, and called as he had before, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak; your servant is listening."
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The LORD said to him, "Some day I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.
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On that day I will carry out all my threats against Eli's family, from beginning to end.
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I have already told him that I am going to punish his family forever because his sons have spoken evil things against me. Eli knew they were doing this, but he did not stop them.
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So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin."
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Samuel stayed in bed until morning; then he got up and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.
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Eli called him, "Samuel, my boy!" "Yes, sir," answered Samuel.
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"What did the LORD tell you?" Eli asked. "Don't keep anything from me. God will punish you severely if you don't tell me everything he said."
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So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, "He is the LORD; he will do whatever seems best to him."
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As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and made come true everything that Samuel said.
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So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of the LORD.
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The LORD continued to reveal himself at Shiloh, where he had appeared to Samuel and had spoken to him. And when Samuel spoke, all Israel listened.
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At that time the Philistines gathered to go to war against Israel, so the Israelites set out to fight them. The Israelites set up their camp at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek.
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The Philistines attacked, and after fierce fighting they defeated the Israelites and killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.
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When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, "Why did the LORD let the Philistines defeat us today? Let's go and bring the LORD's Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that he will go with us and save us from our enemies."
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So they sent messengers to Shiloh and got the Covenant Box of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with the Covenant Box.
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When the Covenant Box arrived, the Israelites gave such a loud shout of joy that the earth shook.
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The Philistines heard the shouting and said, "Listen to all that shouting in the Hebrew camp! What does it mean?" When they found out that the LORD's Covenant Box had arrived in the Hebrew camp,
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they were afraid, and said, "A god has come into their camp! We're lost! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before!
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Who can save us from those powerful gods? They are the gods who slaughtered the Egyptians in the desert!
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Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men, or we will become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they were our slaves. So fight like men!"
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The Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, who went running to their homes. There was a great slaughter: thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed.
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God's Covenant Box was captured, and Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were both killed.
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A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran all the way from the battlefield to Shiloh and arrived there the same day. To show his grief, he had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head.
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Eli, who was very worried about the Covenant Box, was sitting in his seat beside the road, staring. The man spread the news throughout the town, and everyone cried out in fear.
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Eli heard the noise and asked, "What is all this noise about?" The man hurried to Eli to tell him the news.
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(Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.)
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The man said, "I have escaped from the battle and have run all the way here today." Eli asked him, "What happened, my son?"
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The messenger answered, "Israel ran away from the Philistines; it was a terrible defeat for us! Besides that, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and God's Covenant Box was captured!"
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When the man mentioned the Covenant Box, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck, and he died. He had been a leader in Israel for forty years.
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Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, and it was almost time for her baby to be born. When she heard that God's Covenant Box had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she suddenly went into labor and gave birth.
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As she was dying, the women helping her said to her, "Be brave! You have a son!" But she paid no attention and did not answer.
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She named the boy Ichabod, explaining, "God's glory has left Israel"---referring to the capture of the Covenant Box and the death of her father-in-law and her husband.
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"God's glory has left Israel," she said, "because God's Covenant Box has been captured."
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After the Philistines captured the Covenant Box, they carried it from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdod,
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took it into the temple of their god Dagon, and set it up beside his statue.
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Early the next morning the people of Ashdod saw that the statue of Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground in front of the LORD's Covenant Box. So they lifted it up and put it back in its place.
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Early the following morning they saw that the statue had again fallen down in front of the Covenant Box. This time its head and both its arms were broken off and were lying in the doorway; only the body was left.
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(That is why even today the priests of Dagon and all his worshipers in Ashdod step over that place and do not walk on it.)
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The LORD punished the people of Ashdod severely and terrified them. He punished them and the people in the surrounding territory by causing them to have tumors.
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When they saw what was happening, they said, "The God of Israel is punishing us and our god Dagon. We can't let the Covenant Box stay here any longer."
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So they sent messengers and called together all five of the Philistine kings and asked them, "What shall we do with the Covenant Box of the God of Israel?" "Take it over to Gath," they answered; so they took it to Gath, another Philistine city.
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But after it arrived there, the LORD punished that city too and caused a great panic. He punished them with tumors which developed in all the people of the city, young and old alike.
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So they sent the Covenant Box to Ekron, another Philistine city; but when it arrived there, the people cried out, "They have brought the Covenant Box of the God of Israel here, in order to kill us all!"
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So again they sent for all the Philistine kings and said, "Send the Covenant Box of Israel back to its own place, so that it won't kill us and our families." There was panic throughout the city because God was punishing them so severely.
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Even those who did not die developed tumors and the people cried out to their gods for help.
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I cry aloud to God; I cry aloud, and he hears me.
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In times of trouble I pray to the Lord; all night long I lift my hands in prayer, but I cannot find comfort.
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When I think of God, I sigh; when I meditate, I feel discouraged.
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He keeps me awake all night; I am so worried that I cannot speak.
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I think of days gone by and remember years of long ago.
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I spend the night in deep thought; I meditate, and this is what I ask myself:
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"Will the Lord always reject us? Will he never again be pleased with us?
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Has he stopped loving us? Does his promise no longer stand?
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Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has anger taken the place of his compassion?"
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Then I said, "What hurts me most is this--- that God is no longer powerful."
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I will remember your great deeds, LORD; I will recall the wonders you did in the past.
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I will think about all that you have done; I will meditate on all your mighty acts.
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Everything you do, O God, is holy. No god is as great as you.
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You are the God who works miracles; you showed your might among the nations.
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By your power you saved your people, the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph.
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When the waters saw you, O God, they were afraid, and the depths of the sea trembled.
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The clouds poured down rain; thunder crashed from the sky, and lightning flashed in all directions.
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The crash of your thunder rolled out, and flashes of lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
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You walked through the waves; you crossed the deep sea, but your footprints could not be seen.
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You led your people like a shepherd, with Moses and Aaron in charge.
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Our friends, we want you to know what God's grace has accomplished in the churches in Macedonia.
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They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor.
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I can assure you that they gave as much as they could, and even more than they could. Of their own free will
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they begged us and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God's people in Judea.
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It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well.
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So we urged Titus, who began this work, to continue it and help you complete this special service of love.
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You are so rich in all you have: in faith, speech, and knowledge, in your eagerness to help and in your love for us. And so we want you to be generous also in this service of love.
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I am not laying down any rules. But by showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is.
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You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty.
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My opinion is that it is better for you to finish now what you began last year. You were the first, not only to act, but also to be willing to act.
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On with it, then, and finish the job! Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it, and do it with what you now have.
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If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have.
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I am not trying to relieve others by putting a burden on you; but since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then, when you are in need and they have plenty, they will help you. In this way both are treated equally.
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As the scripture says, "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little."
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How we thank God for making Titus as eager as we are to help you!
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Not only did he welcome our request; he was so eager to help that of his own free will he decided to go to you.
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With him we are sending the brother who is highly respected in all the churches for his work in preaching the gospel.
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And besides that, he has been chosen and appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this service of love for the sake of the Lord's glory and in order to show that we want to help.
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We are being careful not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift.
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Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.
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So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help.
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As for Titus, he is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him, they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ.
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Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you.
