He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:

Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”

It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people of Israel longed for the Lord.

Then fear overwhelmed those who were in the camp, those who were in the field, all the army in the garrison, and the raiding bands. They trembled and the ground shook. This fear was caused by God.

If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.”

Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks.

In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed.

When the ark of the Lord had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months,

Now David achieved success in all he did, for the Lord was with him.

After about ten days the Lord struck Nabal down and he died.

Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”

Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he used to give meat portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

As she continued praying to the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth.

Eli’s eyes had begun to fail, so that he was unable to see well. At that time he was lying down in his place,

Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. None of his prophecies fell to the ground unfulfilled.

In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba.

But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us!

We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles.”