Day 168 of 365

¹The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

²The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Show us with which we shall send it to its place."

³They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you."

⁴Then they said, "What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him?" They said, "Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.

⁵Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

⁶Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

⁷"Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart, and two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them;

⁸and take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by its side; and send it away, that it may go.

⁹And watch; if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it was a chance that happened to us."

¹⁰The men did so, and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home;

¹¹and they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors.

¹²The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the territory of Beth Shemesh.

¹³They of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to the Lord.

¹⁵The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to the Lord.

¹⁶When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to 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 to the great stone, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord. That stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, he struck of the people fifty thousand seventy men; and the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

²⁰The men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom shall he go up from us?"

²¹They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down, and bring it up to yourselves."

¹The 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.

²It happened, from the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

³Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you do return to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

⁴Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

⁵Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to the Lord."

⁶They 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." Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

⁷When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸The children of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines."

⁹Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel; and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰As 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 on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel.

¹¹The men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, until they came under Beth Kar.

¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "The Lord helped us until now."

¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the territory of Israel. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory out of the hand of the Philistines. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places.

¹⁷His return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

¹It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

²Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba.

³His sons did not walk 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 to Ramah;

⁵and they said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your 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." Samuel prayed to the Lord.

⁷The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, 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 to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you.

⁹Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them."

¹⁰Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked of him a king.

¹¹He said, "This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots;

¹²and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.

¹³He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

¹⁴He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants.

¹⁵He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

¹⁶He will take your male servants, and your female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.

¹⁷He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you shall be his servants.

¹⁸You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not answer you in that day."

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have 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."

²¹Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.

²²The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice, and make them a king." Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Every man go to his city."

¹I love you, Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

³I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

⁶In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

⁸Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹²At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.

¹⁵Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his ordinances were before me. I did not put away his statutes from me.

²³I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

²⁵With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

²⁶With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

²⁷For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down.

²⁸For you will light my lamp, Lord. My God will light up my darkness.

²⁹For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

³¹For who is God, except the Lord? Who is a rock, besides our God,

³²the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

³³He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places.

³⁴He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

³⁶You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

³⁷I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.

³⁸I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

³⁹For you have girded me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

⁴²Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

⁴⁵The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁶The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

⁴⁸He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

⁵⁰He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore.

¹A wise son listens to his father's instruction, but a scoffer doesn't listen to rebuke.

²By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things; but the unfaithful crave violence.

³He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

⁵A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.

¹⁹Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

²³An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.