1 In the beginning, God[fn] created the heavens and the earth.

12 Then Yahweh said to Abram, “You must leave your land and your relatives and your father’s house and go to the land that I’ll show you.[ref] 2 I’ll bless you and make you into a great nation. I’ll make you famous and you’ll be a blessing to others. 3 I’ll bless everyone who blesses you, but I’ll curse anyone who curses you. All the families on the earth will be blessed because of you.[ref]

4 So Abram left there just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left the city of Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their possessions that they had accumulated and the people who they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in the Canaan region,

27 Then Yisra’el went VISIT OR LIVE? to his father Yitshak in Mamre (also named Kiriat-Arba or Hebron), where Abraham and Yitshak had lived for a time.[ref]

22 Several years later, God decided to test Abraham, calling him, “Abraham.”[ref]

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 “Take your son Yitshak who you love, your only son,” God commanded him, “and go to the Moriah region and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”[ref]

3 So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. Then he took two of his young men with him and his son Yitshak, and he cut some firewood for the burnt offering. Then they left to go to the place that God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up ahead and he could see the place from a distance, 5 so he said to his young men, “Stay here by yourselves with the donkey while the boy and I go over there to worship God, then we’ll come back to you here.”

6 So Abraham took the firewood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Yitshak, and he carried the fire pot and the knife. Then the two of them went on together, 7 and Yitshak asked his father Abraham his father, “My father?”

“Yes, son?”, he replied.

“We’ve got the fire and the wood,”, he continued, “but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering himself, my son,” Abraham answered, and then the two of them continued on together.

9 Then they came to the place that God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the firewood on it. Then he tied up his son Yitshak and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.[ref] 10 Then Abraham took the knife and raised his arm to kill his son, 11 but one of Yahweh’s messengers called to him from the sky and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am.” he answered.

12 “Don’t lift up your hand against the boy,” the messenger continued. “And don’t do anything to him, because now I know that you respect and obey God, since you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 Then Abraham raised his head and looked around, and wow, there was a ram was behind him, caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and grabbed the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham named that place ‘Yahweh will provide’, and to this day it’s still said, “Yahweh will provide on his mountain.”

48 Some time after that, Yosef was told, “Listen, your father is sick.” So Yosef went to him, taking his two sons with him—Manasseh and Efraim. 2 When someone told Yacob that Yosef had arrived, he exerted himself and sat up in bed, 3 then he told him, “God the provider appeared to me at Luz in Canaan, and he blessed me[ref] 4 and said to me, ‘Listen, I’ll make you fruitful, and I’ll multiply you and make you into a community of peoples. And I’ll give this land to your offspring after you to be their possession forever.’ 5 “And now, your two sons, who were born for you here in Egypt before I came here, I adopt them as my own—Efraim and Manasseh—just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any other children that you father after them will be yours. Their inheritance will only be through their older brothers. 7 As for me, when I was coming into Canaan from Paddan, Rahel died beside on the way when we were still quite some distance from Efrath, and I buried her there beside the road of Efrath (which is Bethlehem).”[ref]

8 Then Yisra’el noticed Yosef’s two sons and asked, “Who are these?”

9 “They are my sons that God has given me here in this place.” Yosef replied to his father.

“Please bring them to me, and I will bless them,” Yacob requested. 10 Now Yisra’el’s sight was poor in his old age, so he wasn’t able to see much. So Yosef brought them over to him, and Yisra’el kissed them and embraced them. 11 “I never expected to see you again” he said to Yosef, “but wow, God has even let me see your children as well.” 12 Then Yosef removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.

13 Then Yosef took both of them—Efraim on his right toward Yisra’el’s left and Manasseh (the eldest) on his left toward Yisra’el’s right—and brought them close to him. 14 But Yisra’el intentionally extended his right hand and placed it on the Efraim’s head (the younger one), and crossing his arms, he placed his left hand on Manasseh’s head. 15 Then he blessed Yosef saying,

“May the God who my grandfather Abraham and my father Yitshak served,

the God who has been shepherding me for my entire life,

16 the messenger who’s turned all harm intended for me into good,

may he bless these young men.

May they be recognised as my descendants,

and as descendants of Abraham and Yitshak,

and grow to increase in number on the earth.

17 Then Yosef noticed that his father had placed his right hand on Efraim’s head and he was upset about it, so he picked up his father’s hand to move it across to Manasseh’s head, 18 telling his father, “My father, that’s wrong because that one is my oldest son. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father pushed back, “I know, my son, I know. Manasseh will also become a people, and he will also be great. Nevertheless his younger brother will be the greater one, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”

20 So Yisra’el blessed Efraim and Manasseh that day saying,[ref]

“After this, my descendants will bless people by saying,

‘May God make you like Efraim and like Manasseh.’ ”

(Notice that he put Efraim before Manasseh.)

11 Later on when Mosheh was fully grown, he went out to visit the Hebrews and saw their forced labour, and he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man—one of his own people.[ref] 12 Mosheh looked around to check that no one was watching, then he hit the Egyptian, killing him, then he hid his body in the sand.

21 Then Mosheh summoned the Israeli elders and told them, “Go ahead and select a lamb or young goat for each family and slaughter it. 22 Then you all must take a bunch of leafy hyssop stalks, and dip it in the basin with the blood from the sacrifice and paint the blood onto the lintel and both doorposts. After that, absolutely no one should go out the door of your houses until morning. 23 Then Yahweh will pass throughout Egypt to strike the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, he’ll ‘pass over’ that doorway and won’t permit ‘the destroyer’ to enter into your houses to strike.[ref] 24 All of you and your descendants must maintain this as a law and celebrate it forever, 25 so when you all enter into the land that Yahweh will give to you just as he promised, then you must observe this ceremony. 26 Then when it occurs, your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you all must tell them, ‘It’s the sacrifice of ‘pass-over’ to Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and rescued our families.’ ”

And the people bowed their heads and prostrated themselves, 28 and the Israelis went and did just as Yahweh had commanded through Mosheh and Aharon.

29 Then, in the middle of the night, Yahweh struck all the oldest males in Egypt, from the oldest son of Far’oh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon and all oldest male offspring of the animals.[ref] 30 During the night, all the Egyptians got up, including Far’oh and all his servants. There was tremendous wailing throughout Egypt because it was a very rare house where there wasn’t someone dead.

2 Then from there at Acacia Grove, Yehoshua (Nun’s son) secretly sent off two spies, saying, “Go and learn about the land over there, especially around Yericho City.” So they went off, and over there, they entered the house of a woman—a prostitute named Rahab—and they lay down there.[ref] 2 However, someone told Yericho’s king, “Listen, some Israeli men arrived here tonight to check out our land.” 3 So the king sent guards to tell Rahab, “Bring out the men who went to your place and stayed the night, because they’ve come here to check out our land!”

4 However, Rahab had hidden the two men so she answered, “Indeed, the men arrived here, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 But as the city gate was about to shut last night, the men went out. I don’t know to where they went—if you all hurry, you might be able to catch them.” 6 (But actually she had taken them up onto her flat roof and hidden them in bundles of flax that were drying there.) 7 So the guards hurried out on the road to the fords on the Yordan River and the city gate was kept shut after they had left.

8 Before the Israeli men lay down to sleep that night, Rahab went up them on the roof 9 and told them, “We know that Yahweh has given this land to you all and we’re all terrified of you. Everyone that lives here is trembling at the thought of your coming 10 because we’ve heard that Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea ahead of you all when you left Egypt (Mitsrayim). And we heard what you all did to two of the Amorite kings Sihon and Og over the Yordan there—how you all completely destroyed them.[ref] 11 Yes, we’ve heard the reports and we trembled and lost our courage to fight you all because your God Yahweh, he’s God over the heavens above and the earth below. 12 So now, please promise me by Yahweh that because I’ve been kind to both of you, you all will act kindly towards my father’s household. Give me a guarantee that you’ll do what you promise 13 and spare my parents and my siblings and their families from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives,” the two men agreed. “If you don’t tell anyone about our agreement, then when Yahweh gives us this land, we’ll show kindness and faithfulness to you.”

15 Then she put a rope out through the window to let them down to escape from the city, because her house where she lived was actually built into the side of the wall. 16 “Go to the hill country,” she told them, “so those searching for you won’t find you, and hide up there for three days. Then once the searchers have returned, you’ll be able to safely return to your camp.”

17 “This promise that you made us make,” the men told her, “won’t apply unless you do this: 18 Take this red cord and when we invade the land, tie it in this window in the wall. Make sure that your parents and your siblings and their households are all here in your house. 19 If any of them leaves the house, their life will then be in their own hands and we’ll be innocent if they’re killed. But if anyone with you in this house gets injured, we’ll be responsible for that. 20 Also, if you tell anyone else about this agreement, then we’ll be released from this promise that you made us make.” 21 “Sure, let it be as you say,” Rahab responded. Then she sent them off, and after they’d gone, she tied the red cord in her window.

7 Then Gideon (also known as Yerub-Baal) and the warriors with him got up early and went to Harod spring. The Midianite camp was north of them in the valley below the Moreh hill.

2 Then Yahweh told Gideon, “You’ve got too many warriors with you for me to give victory over the Midianites, because what if Israel takes the glory for themselves thinking that their own strength saved them. 3 So tell the men that anyone who’s afraid or trembling can leave Mt. Gilead and go back home.” Twenty-two thousand of them went back, leaving only ten thousand.[ref]

4 “That’s still too many,” Yahweh told Gideon. “Bring them down to the spring and I’ll short-list them there. Whoever I tell you to go with you, can do so, but anyone that I say won’t go with you, won’t go.” 5 So he took them down to the water and Yahweh told him, “Separate out those who lap up the water with their tongues like a dog would, along with those who kneel down to drink.” 6 It turned out that only three hundred men used their hands to bring water to their mouths, and all the rest knelt down to drink the water. 7 “I’ll rescue you all from Midian with the three hundred men who lapped the water from their hands,” Yahweh told Gideon. “Let all the others go back to their homes.” 8 Then the three-hundred warriors collected the food and ram’s horns from the others before Gideon sent the others back to their own homes.

The Midian camp was below them down in the valley 9 and during the night Yahweh told Gideon, “Get ready and lead them down into the camp, because I have made you victorious. 10 But if you’re afraid to attack, take your servant Purah down to their camp 11 and you’ll hear what they’re saying, then you’ll have the courage to go down and attack the camp.” So Gideon and his servant Purah went quietly down to the unit at the edge of the camp.

12 The Midianites and Amalekites and others from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Even their camels were as numerous as sand grains on the beach. 13 When Gideon got close, a man was telling his companion about his dream. “Listen,” he said, “I had a dream and wow, a round loaf of barley bread was tumbling into our camp. It came as far as the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, and collapsed completely.”

14 “That could only be the sword of Yoash’s son Gideon from Israel,” the other man replied. “The true God has caused Midian and all of the camp to be defeated by him.”

15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he thanked God, then they returned to their camp and commanded, “Get ready to go because Yahweh has given you all victory over the Midianite camp.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three units, and gave each of them rams’ horns and clay jars with burning torches inside them, 17 and instructed them, “Watch me and do what I do. See, when I get to the edge of their camp, do the same as me. 18 When I blow the ram’s horn trumpet, all of you with horns should blow them and everyone will shout, ‘For Yahweh and for Gideon!’ ”

19 When Gideon and the hundred men with him got to the edge of the camp, it was the beginning of the middle nightwatch and the fresh guards had just gotten into their places. Gideon and his unit blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying. 20 Then all three units blew the trumpets and smashed their jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, and they shouted out, “A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon.” 21 Then everyone stood in their place around the camp, but the Midianite army cried out in alarm and took off. 22 When the three hundred ram’s horns sounded, Yahweh caused the Midianite army to start fighting each other with their swords, and the army fled as far as Beyt-Shittah (towards Tsererah) and towards the border of Abel-Meholah (towards Tabbat).

23 Then the warriors from Naftali, Asher, and from all of Manashsheh were summoned to help with pursuing the Midianites. 24 Gideon also sent messengers through Efraim’s hill country to tell them, “Go down to the Yordan river opposite Midian and take control of the crossings to capture them between as far as Beyt-Barah.” So all the men of Efraim were summoned and they commandeered the Yordan crossings as far as Beyt-Barah. 25 They chased after the Midianites and captured their two princes, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock now called ‘Oreb’s rock’, and they killed Zeeb at a winepress now called ‘Zeeb’s winepress’, and they brought their heads back across the Yordan to Gideon.

8 But then the Efraimite men challenged Gideon, “Why have you side-tracked us? Why didn’t you call us when you went to battle against the Midianites?” And they severely rebuked him.

2 “What have I achieved compared to you guys?” answered Gideon. “Aren’t the seconds of Efraim’s grapes better than the whole grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God helped you all defeat Oreb and Zeeb, the princes of Midian. What did I do compared to that?” After he said that, they all calmed down again.[ref]

4 Then Gideon and his three hundred warriors crossed the Yordan going east. They were all exhausted, but continued the pursuit. 5 When they arrived at the town of Sukkot, Gideon asked the leaders, “Please give my men some bread to eat because they’re exhausted, but we’re chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the Midianite kings.”

6 However, the Sukkot officials asked cautiously, “Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your grasp that we should give food to your army?”

7 “Let me assure you all,” Gideon responded, “that when Yahweh has helped us capture Zebah and Zalmunna, I will rip off your flesh with the wilderness thorns and briers.”

8 From there they climbed up to Penuel, and he asked them for food in a similar manner, and the leaders there responded similarly to the leaders of Sukkot. 9 So he said to the men of Penuel as well, “When I return safely, I’ll tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with around fifteen thousand warriors—all that remained out of all of that allied Midianite camp of eastern people, because one hundred and twenty thousand of their warriors had already been killed. 11 Gideon approached them unexpectedly via the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and struck their camp when they were feeling secure. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but they chased after those two Midianite kings and captured them, thus defeating their entire army.

13 The Gideon (Yoash’s son) and his warriors returned from battle, going through the Heres pass. 14 He captured a young man from Sukkot and questioned him—writing down the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Sukkot. 15 Then he returned to Sukkot and told them, “Look here at Zebah and Zalmunna—the ones you taunted me about when you asked, ‘Do you already have Zebah and Zalmunna in your grasp that we should give food to your weary men.’ ” 16 He took the city elders and had them punished with wilderness thorns and briers to teach them a lesson, 17 then they went to Penuel and tore down the tower and executed the city leaders.

18 Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What were the men like that you killed at Tabor?”

“They were just like you,” they replied. “They seemed like they could have been a king’s sons.”

19 “They were my brothers—the sons of my mother,” he said. “As Yahweh lives, if only you had let them live, I wouldn’t have killed you.” 20 Then he ordered Yeter, his oldest son, “Go and kill them.” But Yeter didn’t pull out his sword because he was afraid—he was still a youth.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come and kill us yourself—be a man and use your own strength.” So Gideon went over and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and then he took the crescent-shaped ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.

22 Then a group of Israeli men said to Gideon, “We want you and your sons and your future descendants to rule over us, because you have saved us from the Midianites.”

23 But Gideon answered, “No, I won’t rule over you myself, nor will my son rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.” 24 However, he continued, “Let me ask you all for something: that each man give me the earrings from his spoil.” (The enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

25 “We can certainly do that for you,” they replied. So they spread out a garment and each man threw the earrings from his spoil onto it. 26 Now the weight of the gold earrings of gold came to twenty kilograms, and then there were the crescent-shaped ornaments, the pendants, the dyed purple garments that the Midianite kings had been wearing, as well as the collars that had been around their camels’ necks. 27 Then Gideon made the gold into an idol[fn] and placed it in his home city of Ophrah, and the Israelis prostituted themselves to it there, and so it became like a trap for Gideon and his household.

28 So Midian was kept under control by the Israelis and they didn’t continue to oppress the people, and there was peace in the region for forty years during Gideon’s time.

29 Then Gideon (Yoash’s son, also known as Yerub-Baal) went back and lived in his house, 30 and he fathered seventy sons because he had many wives. 31 He also had a mistress in Shekem—she also bore him a son that he named Abimelek. 32 Gideon died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Yoash his father, at Ofrah of the Abiezerites.

5 That day, Deborah and Barak sang this song:

2 “When the leaders take the lead in Israel,

when the people offer themselves willingly,

Yahweh be blessed.

3 Listen you kings.

≈Pay attention you rulers.

I will sing to Yahweh, yes, even me.

≈I will make music for Israel’s God Yahweh.

4 Yahweh, you left Seir.

≈You marched out of the Edom region.

The earth quaked.

≈The heavens also dropped.

And the clouds poured down rain.

5 Mountains melted in Yahweh’s presence,[ref]

Yes, Mt. Sinai shook in front of Israel’s God, Yahweh.

6 In the days of Anat’s son Shamgar,

≈in the days of Yael,

main roads were abandoned,

≈and travellers walked twisting trails.

7 Israeli villages were abandoned.

≈No one lived there until I, Deborah, became their leader.

I became one of Israel’s mothers.

8 When Israel chose new gods,

then enemies attacked the city gates.

No shield or spear could be found

among forty thousand in Israel.

9 I’m thankful to Israel’s commanders

who volunteered to help the people.

Yahweh be blessed.

10 You riders of white donkeys,

you who sit on saddle blankets,

you who’re walking on the road,

tell about this.

11 From the sounds of conflict over the watering places

they recount ≈Yahweh’s righteousness

and about his righteous warriors in Israel.

Then Yahweh’s people went down to the city gates.

12 Wake up, Deborah, wake up.

Wake up, wake up, sing a song.

Barak, get moving and capture your prisoners,

you son of Abinoam.

13 Then the survivor went down to the nobles.

Yahweh’s people went down to the mighty. ???

14 From Efraim their root was with Amalek.

After you, Benyamin, among your people.

From (Manashsheh’s) Makir, the commanders came down.

And from Zebulun, those who march carrying an officer’s staff.

15 My princes in Yissashkar were with Deborah.

And Yissashkar was also with Barak.

He was sent into a valley on his heels.

There was intense heart searching among the clans of Reuben.

16 Why did you sit between the sheep pens?

To hear the whistling for the flocks?

There was intense heart searching among the clans of Reuben.

17 Gilead settled east of the Yordan.

But, Dan, why does he stay on ships?

Asher stayed at the sea coast

≈and lives by his jetties.

18 Zebulun were a tribe that devotedly risked losing their lives.

And Naftali was at their heights on the battlefield.

19 Kings came and made war.

Then the Canaanite kings fought at Taanak,

at the Megiddo springs.

But they weren’t able to plunder any silver.

20 From the sky, the stars battled.

From their courses, they fought against Sisera.

21 The Kishon river swept them away.

An ancient river that Kison river.

March on with strength, my soul.

22 Then the horses’ hooves struck.

His galloping stallions charging.

23 ‘Curse that Meroz place,’ said Yahweh’s messenger.

‘You shall certainly curse its inhabitants

because they didn’t come and help Yahweh—

to help Yahweh against the mighty ones.’

24 Yael will be an honoured woman.

The wife of Heber the Kenite.

She deserves the most praise out of all women who live in tents.

25 He asked for water—she gave him milk,

Yogurt in a bowl suitable for nobles.

26 Her hands reached out for the tent peg,

and her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She hammered Sisera—shattering his head—

shattering and piercing his temple.

27 He bowed down between her feet—he fell—he lay down.

He bowed down between her feet—where he bowed down, there he fell—destroyed.

28 Sisera’s mother looked out the window.

She peered through the lattice, crying out,

‘Why is his chariot so slow to return?

Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?’

29 Her wise ladies answered her.

Indeed, she keeps telling herself

30 ‘Won’t they be gathering and dividing the plunder?

A woman or two for each warrior to bear children.

Finding some colourful material for Sisera.

Taking some embroidered fabrics.

Dyed scarves as plunder.’

31 May all your enemies perish like that, Yahweh.

But may those who love you shine like the sun rising in its strength.”

Then that region had peace for forty years.

14 One time when Shimshon went to Timnah, he noticed a young, Philistine woman there, 2 and he went back home and he reported to his parents, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah that I’d like you to get for me as my wife.”

3 “Isn’t there a woman among your relatives?” his parents asked him, “Or among all of our people? Why take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

“Get her for me,” Shimshon said to his father, “because I feel she’s right for me.”

4 Now his parents didn’t know that Yahweh was arranging this, because he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines who were oppressing Israel at that time.

5 Then Shimshon went to Timnah with his parents and when they got to the vineyards there, wow, a young lion roared when it saw him. 6 Yahweh’s spirit rose up in Shimshon, and he tore the lion to pieces with his bare hands like butchering a young goat, but he didn’t mention to his parents what he’d done.

7 Then he continued on and talked with the woman, and he really liked her. 8 Some time later when he returned for the wedding, he turned off the path to look for the lion’s carcass, and to his surprise, a swarm of bees had nested in the carcass and there was honey there. 9 He filled his cupped hands with honey, and continued along—walking and eating as he went to where his parents were. He even gave some to them to try, but he didn’t tell them that he had scooped it out of the carcass of a dead lion. 10 Then his father went to visit the woman, and in the custom of the young men of the time, Shimshon held a party there. 11 When they saw him, they brought thirty close friends to join him.[fn] 12 Samson said to them, “Let me suggest a riddle for you all. If you’re able to explain it to me during the seven days of the party and you’ve worked it out correctly, I’ll give you all thirty linen coats and thirty sets of clothes. 13 But if you all can’t explain it to me, then you yourselves must give me thirty linen coats and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Ok, we’re listening. Tell us the riddle.” they answered.

14 So he said,

“Food came out of the eater,

≈and sweetness came out of the strong one.”

But three days later, they still couldn’t solve his riddle.

15 Then on the seventh day,[fn] they pressured Shimshon’s wife, “Get your husband to tell you the answer of the riddle, otherwise we’ll burn down your father’ house and you as well. Did you invite us to the party just to impoverish us?”

16 Then Shimshon’s wife put on a crying act and said, “You must hate me—you don’t love me because you’ve created a riddle for my relatives, yet you haven’t even told me the answer.”

“Listen,” he replied, “I haven’t even told my own parents. Should I tell you?” 17 She continued to cry beside him throughout the seven-day party, and then finally on the seventh day, he gave in and told her because she kept nagging him, so in the end she was able to reveal the answer to her relatives. 18 Then the men of the city said to Shimshon before the sun went down on the seventh day,

“What is sweeter than honey?

And what’s stronger than a lion?”

So he said to them,

“If you all hadn’t ploughed with my heifer,

you wouldn’t have been able to solve my riddle.”

19 Then Yahweh’s spirit rose up in him, and he went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men there. He took their possessions, and he gave the changes of clothes for the riddle. But he was very angry, so he went back to his parent’s home. 20 Then (unknown to Shimshon), his wife was given to the man who’d been his close friend and companion.

15 Some days later during the wheat harvest, Shimshon visited his wife with a young goat as a present for the family, because he said, “I’ll go into the bedroom with my wife.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in, 2 and pleaded, “Truly, I I thought that you must hate her, so I gave her to your close friend. But wouldn’t her younger sister be better anyway? Please, would you take her instead.”

3 Shimshon responded, “This time I’m blameless concerning the Philistines when I cause trouble for them.” 4 Then he went and captured three hundred foxes and tied them in pairs—tail to tail. He took torches, and tied one torch between the tails of each pair. 5 He lit the torches and let the foxes loose into the grain crops of the Philistines. As a result, he burnt both the standing grain plants and also the harvested stacks of sheaves, and even a vineyard and an olive orchard. 6 So the Philistines asked, “Who did this?”

“Shimshon,” they replied, “the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, because he took Shimshon’s wife and gave her to his close friend.” As a result, the Philistines went to Timnah and they burnt both the woman and her father. 7 Then Shimshon told them, “Since you actually did that horrible thing, I certainly won’t stop until I’ve avenged myself against you all.” 8 Then he attacked the Philistines and crippled many of them, before going to Etam’s rock where he lived in a cave.

9 However, the Philistine warriors went and camped in Yehudah, and spread out around the town of Lehi. 10 But the men of Yehudah asked them, “Why have you all come here to attack us?”

“We’ve come to capture Shimshon,” they replied. “To give him some of his own back.” 11 Then three thousand men from Yehudah went down to the cleft of Etam’s rock, and told Shimshon, “Don’t you realise that the Philistines are ruling over us? Why are you causing more trouble for us?”

“Just as they’ve done to me,” he replied, “so I’ve done to them.”

12 “We’ve come here to tie you up so we can hand you over to the Philistines,” they said.

“Ok,” Shimshon responded. “But promise me that you all won’t injure me yourselves.”

13 “No, however, we’ll certainly tie you up,” they replied, “and we’ll hand you over to them. But truly we won’t kill you.” Then they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rocks.

14 When they’d taken him as far as Lehi, the Philistines shouted triumphantly when they saw him. Then Yahweh’s spirit rose in Shimshon and the ropes around his arms just seemed as weak as burnt flax stalks when he simply snapped them off him. 15 He saw a fresh donkey’s jawbone lying on the ground, and he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and he slaughtered a thousand Philistine men with it. 16 Then Shimshon declared,

“With a donkey’s jawbone, one heap, two heaps,

≈with a donkey’s jawbone, I’ve slaughtered a thousand men.”

17 When he finished reciting that, he hurled the jawbone away, and he called that place ‘Ramat-Lehi’ (which means ‘jawbone hill’).

18 Then he was very thirsty and cried out to Yahweh, “You yourself have given your servant this great victory, but now must I die with this thirst and get captured by those uncircumcised Philistines?” 19 So God split open the little hollow that’s at Lehi, and water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Because of that, he called it ‘En-Hakkore’ (which means ‘the fountain of the one who called out’), which is in Lehi to this day. 20 And so Shimshon led Israel for twenty years at the time of the Philistine oppression.

16 Samson went to Gaza city and he saw a prostitute woman there so he went in to spend the night with her. 2 But the Gazites passed around the news, “Shimshon’s in town.” So they encircled the city gate and they laid in wait for him all night. They stayed quiet the whole night, saying, “We’ll kill him when it gets light.” 3 Samson stayed with her until the middle of the night, then he got up. He picked up both the gates including the cross-bar and their posts, and hoisted them up onto his shoulders, and he carried them up to the top of the hill which is in front of Hebron.

4 Sometime after that, Shimshon fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah who lived in the Sorek valley. 5 The Philistine leaders came to her and requested, “Make him open up. Find out what makes him strong, and how we can beat him, so that we can tie him up to keep him in our power. Then we’ll each give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.”

6 So Delilah asked Shimshon, “Please, tell me what makes you so strong, and how could someone tie you up to keep you in their power?”

7 “If they’d tie me up with seven green cords that haven’t been dried,” he replied, “then I’d become weak and be just like any other man.”

8 So the Philistine leaders brought her seven green cords that hadn’t been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 Now she had an ambush group ready in the next room when she said to him, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” But he tore the cords to shreds just like a strip of flax fiber is torn to shreds when the fire reaches it, thus they didn’t find out the secret of his strength. 10 Then Delilah said to him, “Listen, you deceived me and lied to me. Now tell me, please, how could someone tie you up?”

11 “Actually, if they would tie me with new ropes which have never been used,” he replied, “I’d become weak and be just like any other man.”

12 So Delilah took new cords and tied him up with them. She said to him, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” with the ambush group staying in the next room. But he flicked them off his arms like they were just thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Shimshon, “So far you’ve just been deceitful to me and told me lies. Now Tell me how you can be tied up.”

So he told her, “It’s if you just weave seven locks of my hair into the loom.”

14 So she did it and fastened it with the pin, and called out, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” Then he woke up and ripped out the pin, the loom, and his hair from the fabric.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart isn’t with me? You’ve been deceitful to me three times now, and you haven’t revealed to me the secret of your amazing strength.” 16 Day after day she nagged and pestered him until he was sick to death of hearing it. 17 So finally he told her his secret, “My hair has never been cut because I’ve been a Nazirite to God since my birth. If my head would be shaved, then my strength would leave me, and I’d become weak—I’d be just like any other man.”

18 When Delilah perceived that he’d told her his deepest secret, she summoned the Philistine leaders, “Come here one more time, because he’s told me his secret.” So the Philistine leaders came, bringing the silver coins with them. 19 Then she made him fall asleep on her knees, and she called in a man to shave off his seven locks of hair, causing him to start to weaken, and his additional strength left him. 20 Then she said, “The Philistines are here to get you, Shimshon!” He woke up and thought to himself, “I’ll escape like all the other times and I’ll shake myself loose.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had left him. 21 So the Philistines seized him, and they gouged out his eyes. They brought him to Gaza and chained him with a pair of bronze shackles, then they put him to work in prison grinding grain. 22 However, over time his hair began to grow back again.

23 Some time later, the Philistine leaders gathered together for a celebration and to offer a large sacrifice to their god Dagon, saying, “Our god has helped us capture our terrible enemy, Shimshon.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has helped us capture our enemy—the devastator of our region who killed so many of us.” 25 Later in the celebration when the drink had liberated their thinking, they said, “Call for Shimshon so he can entertain us.” So they brought Shimshon in from the prison and taunted him to get them all laughing. They made him stand among the pillars of the building 26 and he asked the servant who was guiding him by the hand, “Place my hands against the two pillars holding up the building so I can lean on them.” 27 The building was full of the men and the women, including the Philistine leaders. On the roof there were about three thousand men and women watching the entertainment with Shimshon.

28 Then Shimshon called out to Yahweh, “My master Yahweh, please remember me. Strengthen me please, just this time, oh God, so that I can avenge myself by one last act of vengeance on the Philistines to make them pay for my two eyes.” 29 Then he took hold of the two centre pillars on which the building depended, and pressed out against them—one in his right hand and one in his left. 30 Then he exclaimed, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He stretched out with his strength and the building fell on their leaders and all of the people in it. So he killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

31 Then his brothers and all his father’s household went to Gaza and carried his body back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial place of his father Manoah. He had helped Israel for twenty years.

11 Now Yiftah the Gileadite was a fierce warrior, but he was a prostitute’s son and his father was Gilead. 2 Gilead’s wife also gave birth to sons for him, and when those sons of the wife grew up, they drove Yiftah out and told him, “You won’t get any inheritance from our father’s estate because you’re a son of another woman.” 3 So Yiftah fled from the presence of his half-brothers and he settled in the Tob region. Unprincipled men associated around Yiftah and went around with him.

4 Some time later, the Ammonites battled against Israel. 5 and that was when the elders of Gilead went to summon Yiftah from the Tob region. 6 Then requested Yiftah, “Come and be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites.”

7 “Don’t you all hate me? Yiftah asked them. “Didn’t you yourselves drive me out of my father’s house? So why have you all come to me now when you have troubles?”

8 “Well, true,” the Gilead elders replied, “But now we’ve turned back to you. So join with us and fight against the Ammonites, and you’ll become commander over all of who lives in Gilead.”

9 “If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites,” Yiftah asked them, “and if Yahweh helps me defeat them, is it correct that I’ll actually become your leader?”

10 “Yahweh will be a witness between us,” the Gilead elders responded, “that we’ll most certainly do what you just said.” 11 So Yiftah went with the Gilead elders, and the people set him as commander and leader over themselves. (Yiftah had spoken all those words before Yahweh at Mitspah.)

12 Then Yiftah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, demanding, “What’s happened with respect to me and to you, that you’ve come against me to fight over my land?”

13 The Ammonite king responded to Yiftah’s messengers, “Because the Israelis seized my land when they came out of Egypt. It went from the Arnon river up to the Yabbok river, and over to the Yordan river. Now return the land peaceably.”

14 Then Yiftah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 to tell him, “Yiftah wants you to know that Israel didn’t take land from Moab nor from you Ammonites. 16 However in their coming up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea until arriving at Kadesh. 17 When Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please may we pass through your land,’ the king of Edom wouldn’t listen. Israel likewise sent to the king of Moab, but he wasn’t willing either, so Israel stayed at Kadesh.[ref] 18 Then we went through the wilderness and turned away from the land of Edom and the land of Moab, then went the long way around the eastern border of Moab. They camped on the other side of the Arnon river, but they didn’t go within Moab’s borders, because the Arnon was the border of Moab.[ref] 19 Israel sent messengers to the Amorite King Sihon, the king of Heshbon and asked him, ‘Please, let us pass through your land as far as our place.’[ref] 20 But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel passing through within his border, so he assembled all of his people together and they camped at Jahaz, and he battled with Israel. 21 Then Israel’s God, Yahweh, handed King Sihon and all his people over to Israel and we defeated them. Thus Israel took possession of all of the land of the Amorites inhabiting that region— 22 everything within the Amorite territory from the Arnon river to the Yabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. 23 So since it was Israel’s God Yahweh that expelled the Amorites out of the presence of his people Israel, do you actually think that you can take it now? 24 Wouldn’t you take possession if your god Chemosh, allowed you to? So too all that our God Yahweh has dispossessed ahead of us, we’ll possess that. 25 Are you really better now than Zippor’s son, King Balak of Moab? Did he dare contend with Israel or did he ever wage war against them?[ref] 26 Israel lived in Heshbon and in its villages for three hundred years, and in Aroer and in its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon—so why didn’t you repossess them during that time? 27 I haven’t done anything wrong to you, but you’re doing wrong in dealing with me by fighting against me. Yahweh, the judge, will decide today between the Israelis and the Ammonites.” 28 But the Ammonite king didn’t take any notice of Yiftah’s message to him.

29 Then Yahweh’s spirit empowered Yiftah, and he passed through the Gilead and Manashsheh, and through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he passed through the Ammonite region, 30 and he made a promise to Yahweh, “If you really give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 then whoever’s the first person to come out of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the battle against the Ammonites, that person will belong to Yahweh, and I will offer him up as a whole burnt offering.” 32 So Yiftah went to the Ammonite territory to fight against them, and Yahweh enabled them to defeat them. 33 Then he attacked them from Aroer and as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and then up to Abel-Keramim, slaughtering a huge number. So the Ammonites were subdued by the presence of the Israelis.

34 When Yiftah got back to his house in the Mizpah area, look, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. She was their only child—he didn’t have any son or daughter apart from her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! Indeed, you’ve made me bow in grief, and you’re among those who cause me pain, because I made a vow to Yahweh and I can’t go back on it.”

36 Then she said to him, “My father, you’ve made a vow to Yahweh. Do to me whatever you promised, after what Yahweh has done for you—total vengeance against your Ammonite enemies.” 37 But she asked her father, “Just do this one thing for me: release me for two months, so I can go away and take some companions. I’ll fall prostrate on the hills and I’ll weep because I’ll never have a chance to marry.” 38 He agreed and then sent her away for two months. She went with some companions, and she wept on the hills because she’d never be a mother. 39 Then at the end of the two months, she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with respect to her so indeed she never had a chance to marry.

After that, it became a custom in Israel 40 that the young women of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Yiftah the Gileadite for four days during the year.

12 Now the men of Efraim were summoned and they passed northward and they said to Yiftah, “Why did you pass through in order to fight against the Ammonites, but you didn’t call us to go with you? We’re going to burn your house down over you!”

2 “I’ve been involved in very intense disputes—my people against the Ammonites,” Yiftah told them. “When I summoned you all, you didn’t come and rescue me from them. 3 When I could see that you weren’t coming to assist, I took my life into my own hands. I advanced against the Ammonites, and Yahweh gave me victory over them. So why then have you all come here to fight against me today?” 4 Then Yiftah assembled all of the men of Gilead and they battled against Efraim. The men of Gilead struck Efraim because they had said, “You Gilead people are just fugitives from Efraim—living here in the middle of Efraim, in the middle of Manashsheh.” 5 The Gileadites captured the crossing places of the Jordan along Efraim. Then when any of the survivors from Efraim would say, “May I cross over,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Efraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they’d demand, “Now say: Shibboleth.” But if he said “Sibboleth” because he didn’t have time to think to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and would slaughter him at those crossing places of the Yordan. Forty-two thousand from Efraim fell at that time.

7 Yiftah the Gileadite led Israel for six years, then he died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

11 Now Yiftah the Gileadite was a fierce warrior, but he was a prostitute’s son and his father was Gilead. 2 Gilead’s wife also gave birth to sons for him, and when those sons of the wife grew up, they drove Yiftah out and told him, “You won’t get any inheritance from our father’s estate because you’re a son of another woman.” 3 So Yiftah fled from the presence of his half-brothers and he settled in the Tob region. Unprincipled men associated around Yiftah and went around with him.

4 Some time later, the Ammonites battled against Israel. 5 and that was when the elders of Gilead went to summon Yiftah from the Tob region. 6 Then requested Yiftah, “Come and be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites.”

7 “Don’t you all hate me? Yiftah asked them. “Didn’t you yourselves drive me out of my father’s house? So why have you all come to me now when you have troubles?”

8 “Well, true,” the Gilead elders replied, “But now we’ve turned back to you. So join with us and fight against the Ammonites, and you’ll become commander over all of who lives in Gilead.”

9 “If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites,” Yiftah asked them, “and if Yahweh helps me defeat them, is it correct that I’ll actually become your leader?”

10 “Yahweh will be a witness between us,” the Gilead elders responded, “that we’ll most certainly do what you just said.” 11 So Yiftah went with the Gilead elders, and the people set him as commander and leader over themselves. (Yiftah had spoken all those words before Yahweh at Mitspah.)

12 Then Yiftah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, demanding, “What’s happened with respect to me and to you, that you’ve come against me to fight over my land?”

13 The Ammonite king responded to Yiftah’s messengers, “Because the Israelis seized my land when they came out of Egypt. It went from the Arnon river up to the Yabbok river, and over to the Yordan river. Now return the land peaceably.”

14 Then Yiftah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 to tell him, “Yiftah wants you to know that Israel didn’t take land from Moab nor from you Ammonites. 16 However in their coming up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea until arriving at Kadesh. 17 When Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please may we pass through your land,’ the king of Edom wouldn’t listen. Israel likewise sent to the king of Moab, but he wasn’t willing either, so Israel stayed at Kadesh.[ref] 18 Then we went through the wilderness and turned away from the land of Edom and the land of Moab, then went the long way around the eastern border of Moab. They camped on the other side of the Arnon river, but they didn’t go within Moab’s borders, because the Arnon was the border of Moab.[ref] 19 Israel sent messengers to the Amorite King Sihon, the king of Heshbon and asked him, ‘Please, let us pass through your land as far as our place.’[ref] 20 But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel passing through within his border, so he assembled all of his people together and they camped at Jahaz, and he battled with Israel. 21 Then Israel’s God, Yahweh, handed King Sihon and all his people over to Israel and we defeated them. Thus Israel took possession of all of the land of the Amorites inhabiting that region— 22 everything within the Amorite territory from the Arnon river to the Yabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. 23 So since it was Israel’s God Yahweh that expelled the Amorites out of the presence of his people Israel, do you actually think that you can take it now? 24 Wouldn’t you take possession if your god Chemosh, allowed you to? So too all that our God Yahweh has dispossessed ahead of us, we’ll possess that. 25 Are you really better now than Zippor’s son, King Balak of Moab? Did he dare contend with Israel or did he ever wage war against them?[ref] 26 Israel lived in Heshbon and in its villages for three hundred years, and in Aroer and in its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon—so why didn’t you repossess them during that time? 27 I haven’t done anything wrong to you, but you’re doing wrong in dealing with me by fighting against me. Yahweh, the judge, will decide today between the Israelis and the Ammonites.” 28 But the Ammonite king didn’t take any notice of Yiftah’s message to him.

29 Then Yahweh’s spirit empowered Yiftah, and he passed through the Gilead and Manashsheh, and through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he passed through the Ammonite region, 30 and he made a promise to Yahweh, “If you really give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 then whoever’s the first person to come out of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the battle against the Ammonites, that person will belong to Yahweh, and I will offer him up as a whole burnt offering.” 32 So Yiftah went to the Ammonite territory to fight against them, and Yahweh enabled them to defeat them. 33 Then he attacked them from Aroer and as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and then up to Abel-Keramim, slaughtering a huge number. So the Ammonites were subdued by the presence of the Israelis.

34 When Yiftah got back to his house in the Mizpah area, look, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. She was their only child—he didn’t have any son or daughter apart from her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! Indeed, you’ve made me bow in grief, and you’re among those who cause me pain, because I made a vow to Yahweh and I can’t go back on it.”

36 Then she said to him, “My father, you’ve made a vow to Yahweh. Do to me whatever you promised, after what Yahweh has done for you—total vengeance against your Ammonite enemies.” 37 But she asked her father, “Just do this one thing for me: release me for two months, so I can go away and take some companions. I’ll fall prostrate on the hills and I’ll weep because I’ll never have a chance to marry.” 38 He agreed and then sent her away for two months. She went with some companions, and she wept on the hills because she’d never be a mother. 39 Then at the end of the two months, she returned to her father and he carried out his vow with respect to her so indeed she never had a chance to marry.

After that, it became a custom in Israel 40 that the young women of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Yiftah the Gileadite for four days during the year.

12 Now the men of Efraim were summoned and they passed northward and they said to Yiftah, “Why did you pass through in order to fight against the Ammonites, but you didn’t call us to go with you? We’re going to burn your house down over you!”

2 “I’ve been involved in very intense disputes—my people against the Ammonites,” Yiftah told them. “When I summoned you all, you didn’t come and rescue me from them. 3 When I could see that you weren’t coming to assist, I took my life into my own hands. I advanced against the Ammonites, and Yahweh gave me victory over them. So why then have you all come here to fight against me today?” 4 Then Yiftah assembled all of the men of Gilead and they battled against Efraim. The men of Gilead struck Efraim because they had said, “You Gilead people are just fugitives from Efraim—living here in the middle of Efraim, in the middle of Manashsheh.” 5 The Gileadites captured the crossing places of the Jordan along Efraim. Then when any of the survivors from Efraim would say, “May I cross over,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Efraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they’d demand, “Now say: Shibboleth.” But if he said “Sibboleth” because he didn’t have time to think to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and would slaughter him at those crossing places of the Yordan. Forty-two thousand from Efraim fell at that time.

7 Yiftah the Gileadite led Israel for six years, then he died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

1 There was a man named Elkanah from Ramatayim-Zofim who lived in the Efraimite hill country. (He was an Efraimite—the son of Yeroham, son of Elihu,[ref] son of Tohu, son of Zuf.) 2 He had two wives: Hannah (who had no children) and Peninnah (who had several children).

3 Every year he would take his family to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to commander Yahweh. Eli was Yahweh’s priest there, and his two sons Hofni and Pinehas also served there.

4 on the day that Elkanah made his sacrifice, he would give portions of the cooked meat to Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, 5 but he’d give a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, even though Yahweh had not enabled her to have children. 6 Then her rival would provoke her and try to make her angry, because Yahweh hadn’t given her children. 7 And so it happened every year. Every time they went to Yahweh’s tent, Peninnah ridiculed him, and Hannah would weep and wouldn’t eat. 8 Then Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you crying? And why aren’t you eating? And why are you so upset? Isn’t it better having me than having ten sons?”

9 One time Hannah got up after eating and drinking at Shiloh. (Eli the priest was sitting on the seat near the entrance of Yahweh’s tent.) 10 Hannah was very upset, and she prayed to Yahweh and wept uncontrollably. 11 Then she made a vow, saying, “Commander Yahweh, if you would only notice the misery of your female servant and remember me. Don’t ignore me. Help your female servant to give birth to a son, then I’ll give him to you for his entire life, and he’ll never have his hair cut.”[ref]

12 As she continued praying to Yahweh, Eli was watching her mouth. 13 Now Hannah was praying from her heart, and her lips were moving but she wasn’t speaking aloud. Eli thought she must be drunk, 14 and scolded her, “You shouldn’t be getting drunk. Get rid of your wine.”

15 “No, my master,” Hannah replied, “I’m a woman who’s suffering deep down. I haven’t drunk any wine or intoxicating drink, but rather I’ve been sharing my inner issues with Yahweh. 16 Don’t think that your female servant is just a worthless woman, because just now I was praying as a result of my terrible anguish and frustration.”

17 “Then go in peace,” Eli replied. “And may Israel’s God grant your request that you presented to him.”

18 “Please assume the best of your female servant,” said Hannah, then she went on her way and had something to eat, and something had changed in her demeanor.

19 They all gut up early the next morning and worshipped Yahweh again, then they returned to their home at Ramah. Then Elkanah slept with his wife Hannah, and Yahweh answered her prayer. 20 Hannah got pregnant, and in due course, she gave birth to a son. She named him ‘Shemu’el’ (meaning ‘heard by God’, usually changed to ‘Samuel’ in English) because she had requested him from Yahweh.

21 At the usual time, Elkanah and all his household went to Shiloh to offer their sacrifices and fulfill their vows to Yahweh. 22 But Hannah didn’t accompany them because she’d told her husband, “I’ll come and bring him when he’s weaned. Then he can be taken in to Yahweh and permanently remain there.” 23 “Do what you think’s best,” her husband replied. “Stay until you’ve weaned him. May Yahweh do whatever he said to you.” So she stayed behind and breastfed her son until she eventually weaned him.

24 The next year, after she’d weaned him, she took the young boy with them, along with three bulls, a sack of flour, and a container of wine. Then she brought him to Yahweh’s tent in Shiloh, 25 and after slaughtering the bull, they took the boy in to Eli. 26 “Please, my master,” Hannah said. “As your spirit lives, my master, I’m the woman who was standing with you here to pray to Yahweh. 27 I prayed that Yahweh would give me a son, and he did, and this is him. 28 Also, I dedicated him to Yahweh all his life, so he’s now given to Yahweh.”

Then they worshipped Yahweh there.

2 Then Hannah prayed, saying,[ref]

“I’m so happy with Yahweh.

My strength comes from Yahweh.

I can loudly refute my enemies.

Because I’m so pleased that you rescued me.

2 No one else is holy like Yahweh.

≈There’s certainly no one else who’s like you.

No one else is like a rock to me like our God is.

3 You all shouldn’t speak so proudly.

≈Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouths.

Because Yahweh is a God of knowledge,

and all actions are weighed by him.

4 Warriors have their bows shattered,

but those who stumbled are given extra strength.

5 Those who had been satisfied now hire themselves out for food,

but the hungry people no longer lack.

The woman who’d been childless, gives birth to seven,

but the woman with many sons is depressed.

6 Yahweh puts to death and he makes alive.

≈He sends down to the grave and brings up.

7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich.

≈He humbles, and he also honours.

8 He lifts the poor up from the dust,

≈and lifts up the needy from the ash heap

so they can sit with influential people

≈and be given the seat of honour.

The earth’s foundations belong to Yahweh—

he was the one who placed the world on top of them.

9 He watches over those who’re loyal to him,

but wicked people will die in the darkness,

because we don’t succeed through our own strength.

10 It’s Yahweh who shatters our enemies.

He thunders against them from the heavens.

Yahweh will judge the entire earth,

and will give strength to the king,

and will give victory to his chosen one.”

11 Then Elkanah and his family returned to their home in Ramah, but young Shemuel stayed to help Eli the priest serve Yahweh.

12 Now Eli’s sons were worthless scoundrels who didn’t obey Yahweh. 13 It was the custom of those priests that when anyone was offering a sacrifice and as soon as the meat was boiling, the priest’s servant would come along holding a three-pronged fork 14 and stick it into the pot or pan. The priest would then claim whatever the fork brought up. That’s what they did to all the Israelis who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices. 15 Also, before the fat was removed to burn, the priest’s servant would say to the person sacrificing, “Give some meat to the priest—he doesn’t want just boiled meat all the time—he’ll take some raw meat as well to roast.”

16 But if the person tried to say, “Once the fat has all be burnt, then take whatever you want for yourself,” then he’d assert, “No, you’d better give it right now or I’ll take it by force.” 17 And so the actions of those young men was very wicked in Yahweh’s mind because they just treated sacrifices to Yahweh with contempt.

18 By now Shemuel was serving Yahweh, dressed in a priestly uniform made from linen. 19 Each year his mother would make a small robe for him and bring it when she came with her husband to offer their sacrifices. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May Yahweh give more children for you through this woman in place of the boy dedicated to Yahweh.” Then they’d return home.

21 So Yahweh visited Hannah and she went on to give birth the three other sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, young Shemuel grew up serving Yahweh.

22 Now Eli was very old and he had heard all about what his sons were doing to the Israeli people, and also that they were sleeping around with the women who worked at the sacred tent entrance. 23 “Why are you two doing all these things that I keep hearing about—these evil things affecting all those people?” he asked them. 24 “No, my sons. The reports that I keep hearing Yahweh’s people passing on isn’t good! 25 If someone sins against a person, then God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against Yahweh, who will speak up for that person?” But they wouldn’t listen to their father’s advice because Yahweh wanted to put them to death.

26 Meanwhile the boy Shemuel was growing up, and his good behaviour pleased both Yahweh and the people.[ref]

27 One day one of God’s prophets came to Eli and told him, “This is what Yahweh says, ‘Didn’t I clearly reveal myself to your ancestors when they were Far’oh’s slaves in Egypt? 28 And out of all the Israeli tribes, I chose your ancestor to be a priest to me, to go up on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the sacred apron in front of me. Plus I gave your ancestors the rights to all the burnt offerings made by the Israelis.[ref] 29 Why do you disrespect sacrifices and offerings that I commanded the people to bring to me at my residence. And why do you honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves from the best of every offering of my people Israel?’

30 “Therefore, this is what Yahweh the God of Israel declares: ‘I indeed said your ancestors and then your descendants would serve me forever.’ But now I declare this instead: ‘This cannot continue because I will honour those who honour me, but those who despise me will be side-lined. 31 Listen, the time is coming when I’ll bring you and your relatives to an end—none of your men will die of old age 32 and you’ll see distress in my residence. I’ll do good for the rest of Israel, but there’ll never be another old man in your home. 33 I won’t finish them off near my altar. Your eyes will fail and you’ll grieve inside, but your adult sons will die. 34 This will be the sign: it’ll turn out that your two sons Hofni and Finehas will both die on the same day.[ref] 35 Then I’ll select another man to be a faithful priest to me—he’ll follow my desires and do what’s in my mind. I’ll make him and his faithful descendants to continue and to always serve me. 36 Any of your descendants who remain alive will have to go to him to request food and money and beg for some priestly work to earn something to eat.’ ”

3 Meanwhile young Shemuel was serving Yahweh under Eli. In those days, Yahweh rarely spoke to the people or sent visions.

2 By that time, Eli’s sight was very poor—he could barely see. One night when he was sleeping in his place,[fn] 3 and Shemuel was lying down in Yahweh’s tent (where the box was that contained the stone slabs), but God’s lamp was still burning. 4 Yahweh called out to Shemuel, and he called back, “I’m here. Coming.” 5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.”

“I didn’t call,” he said. “Go back and lie down.” So he went back and laid down.

6 Yahweh called again, “Shemuel.”

Shemuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.”

“I didn’t call, my son,” he said, “Go back and lie down.”

7 (At this point, Shemuel didn’t really know Yahweh, because Yahweh hadn’t revealed himself to him before.) 8 Then Yahweh called Shemuel a third time. He got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.”

Then Eli realised that it was Yahweh who was calling the boy 9 and he told Shemuel, “Go and lie down. Then if he calls to you again, just answer, ‘Speak, Yahweh, because your servant is listening.’ ” So Shemuel went and laid down again in his place.

10 Then Yahweh came and stood nearby and called like he’d done the other times, “Shemuel, Shemuel.”

“Speak,” Shemuel said, “because your servant is listening.”

11 “Listen,” Yahweh told him, “I’m about to do something in Israel that will make everyone’s ears tingle when they hear it. 12 When it happens, I’ll do everything that I’ve said about Eli and his family, from the beginning to the end. 13 I’ve told him already that I’m about to eternally judge his household because he knew about the evil that was being done, because his sons were bringing curses on themselves and he didn’t scold them. 14 That’s why I’ve promised Eli’s family that their disobedience can never be forgiven by means of sacrifices or offerings.

15 Then Shemuel lay down again until the morning when he opened the doors of Yahweh’s house as usual, but he was scared to tell Eli about the vision. 16 But Eli called him, “Shemuel, my son.”