Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. ¹⁶And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a guilt-offering unto the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; ¹⁸and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even unto Abel by the great stone, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite. ¹⁹And He smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had gazed upon the ark of the Lord, even He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand men; and the people ²mourned, because the Lord had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰And the men of Beth-shemesh said: 'Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? and to whom shall it go up from us?' ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying: 'The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.'

      7And the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

      ²And it came to pass, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel yearned after the Lord. ³And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying: 'If ye do return unto the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.' ⁴Then the children of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

      ⁵And Samuel said: 'Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.' ⁶And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there: 'We have sinned against the Lord.' And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

⁷And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the children of Israel said to Samuel: 'Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He save us out of the hand of the Philistines.' ⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering unto the Lord; and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten down before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. ¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it ³Eben-ezer, saying: 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.' ¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel; and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the border thereof did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. ¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar unto the Lord.

      8And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ²Now the name of his first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. ³And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

      ⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah. ⁵And they said unto him: 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.' ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said: 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. ⁷And the Lord said unto Samuel: 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not be king over them. ⁸According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken Me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. ⁹Now therefore hearken unto their voice; howbeit thou shalt earnestly forewarn them, and shalt declare unto them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.'

      ¹⁰And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. ¹¹And he said: 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them unto him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots. ¹²And he will appoint them unto him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. ¹³And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. ¹⁴And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. ¹⁶And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. ¹⁷He will take the tenth of your flocks; and ye shall be his servants. ¹⁸And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not answer you in that day.' ¹⁹But the people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel; and they said: 'Nay; but there shall be a king over us; ²⁰that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.' ²¹And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he spoke them in the ears of the Lord. ²²And the Lord said to Samuel: 'Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.' And Samuel said unto the men of Israel: 'Go ye every man unto his city.'

      9Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valour. ²And he had a son, whose name was Saul, young and goodly, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. ³Now the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son: 'Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.' ⁴And he passed through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they found them not; then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they were not; and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. ⁵When they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him: 'Come and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and become anxious concerning us.' ⁶And he said unto him: 'Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man that is held in honour; all that he saith cometh surely to pass; now let us go thither; peradventure he can tell us concerning our journey whereon we go.' ⁷Then said Saul to his servant: 'But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God; what have we?' ⁸And the servant answered Saul again, and said: 'Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver, that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.'—⁹Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said: 'Come and let us go to the seer'; for he that is now called a prophet was beforetime called a seer.—¹⁰Then said Saul to his servant: 'Well said; come, let us go.' So they went unto the city where the man of God was. ¹¹As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them: 'Is the seer