So the Israelites ¹  removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.

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!”

However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ²  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³ 

¹ Nahash ²  the Ammonite marched ³  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

Just as they have done ¹  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.

If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ¹  and not rebelling against what he says, ²  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ³ 

Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ¹  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.

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.”

Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ¹  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of ¹  Eli the priest.

Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he had done formerly. ¹ 

Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. ¹  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ²  from the hand of the Philistines.”

Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty ¹  and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ² 

So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in ¹  an offering. But if men have instigated this, ²  may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’

So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ¹  serving ²  with me in the army. ³  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ⁴  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ⁵ 

Year after year ¹  this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.

Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ¹  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ²  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ³  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel ¹  and how they used to have sex with ²  the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal, ¹  and he became his armor bearer.