The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli ¹  asked, “How did things go, my son?”

But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ ¹  get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away.

May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you.

Eli ¹  said, “What message did he speak to you? Don’t conceal it from me. God will judge you severely ²  if you conceal from me anything that he said to you!”

Why are you ¹  scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? ²  You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ¹  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ² 

The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ¹  crying out to the Lord our ²  God so that he may save us ³  from the hand of the Philistines!”

Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!”

Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal ¹  to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. ²  Saul mustered the army that remained with him; there were about six hundred men.

When they ¹  made themselves known to the Philistine garrison, the Philistines said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they hid themselves.”

Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you!

¹ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ² 

When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called out to ¹  the servant, “Isn’t the arrow further beyond you?”

He said to David, “You are more innocent ¹  than I, for you have treated me well, even though I have tried to harm you!

The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god ¹  coming up from the ground!”

There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, ¹  from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t take boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹ 

Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord raise up for you descendants ¹  from this woman to replace the one that she ²  dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their ³  home.