1 Samuel 7

1 [When] the men of Kiriath-Jearim [received that message, they] came to Beth-Shemesh and took the sacred chest of Yahweh. They took it to the house of Abinadab, which was on a hillside. They appointed Abinadab’s son Eleazar to take care of the chest.

καὶ ἔρχονται οἱ ἄνδρες Καριαθιαριμ καὶ ἀνάγουσιν τὴν κιβωτὸν διαθήκης κυρίου καὶ εἰσάγουσιν αὐτὴν εἰς οἶκον Αμιναδαβ τὸν ἐν τῷ βουνῷ καὶ τὸν Ελεαζαρ υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἡγίασαν φυλάσσειν τὴν κιβωτὸν διαθήκης κυρίου

2 The sacred chest stayed in Kiriath-Jearim for a long time—a total of 20 years. During that time all the people of Israel mourned [because it seemed that] Yahweh [had abandoned them] (OR, [and then they asked] Yahweh [to help them]).

καὶ ἐγενήθη ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἦν ἡ κιβωτὸς ἐν Καριαθιαριμ ἐπλήθυναν αἱ ἡμέραι καὶ ἐγένοντο εἴκοσι ἔτη καὶ ἐπέβλεψεν πᾶς οἶκος Ισραηλ ὀπίσω κυρίου

3 Then Samuel said to all the Israeli people, “If you truly [IDM] want to act like Yahweh’s people should, you must get rid of your statues of [the goddess] Astarte and the idols/statues of all the other foreign gods. You must decide to serve/worship only Yahweh. If you do that, he will rescue you from [the power of] [MTY] the Philistia people.”

καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ πρὸς πάντα οἶκον Ισραηλ λέγων εἰ ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν ὑμεῖς ἐπιστρέφετε πρὸς κύριον περιέλετε τοὺς θεοὺς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐκ μέσου ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ ἄλση καὶ ἑτοιμάσατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν πρὸς κύριον καὶ δουλεύσατε αὐτῷ μόνῳ καὶ ἐξελεῖται ὑμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλοφύλων

4 So the Israelis got rid of all their statues of the gods Baal and Astarte, and they worshiped only Yahweh.

καὶ περιεῖλον οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ τὰς Βααλιμ καὶ τὰ ἄλση Ασταρωθ καὶ ἐδούλευσαν κυρίῳ μόνῳ

5 Then Samuel told them, “All you Israeli people must gather with me at Mizpah. Then I will pray to Yahweh for you.”

καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ ἀθροίσατε πάντα Ισραηλ εἰς Μασσηφαθ καὶ προσεύξομαι περὶ ὑμῶν πρὸς κύριον

6 So they gathered at Mizpah, which was the town where Samuel previously was the leader of the Israeli people. They had a big ceremony there. They drew water [from a well], and poured the water on the ground while Yahweh watched. [To show that they were sorry for having worshiped idols], they did not eat any food on that day, and they confessed that they had sinned against Yahweh.

καὶ συνήχθησαν εἰς Μασσηφαθ καὶ ὑδρεύονται ὕδωρ καὶ ἐξέχεαν ἐνώπιον κυρίου ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐνήστευσαν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ εἶπαν ἡμαρτήκαμεν ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ ἐδίκαζεν Σαμουηλ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ εἰς Μασσηφαθ

7 When the kings of the Philistia area heard that the Israeli people had gathered at Mizpah, they led their armies there to attack the Israelis. When the Israelis found out that the Philistia army was approaching them, they became very afraid.

καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ὅτι συνηθροίσθησαν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ εἰς Μασσηφαθ καὶ ἀνέβησαν σατράπαι ἀλλοφύλων ἐπὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἀκούουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν ἀπὸ προσώπου ἀλλοφύλων

8 They told Samuel, “Pray to Yahweh to rescue us from the Philistia army [MTY], and do not stop pleading!”

καὶ εἶπαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ πρὸς Σαμουηλ μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς ἀφ’ ἡμῶν τοῦ μὴ βοᾶν πρὸς κύριον θεόν σου καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλοφύλων

9 So Samuel took a very young lamb [and killed it] and offered it to Yahweh to be a sacrifice that was completely burned [on the altar]. Then he prayed and pleaded that Yahweh [would help] the Israelis, and Yahweh did help them.

καὶ ἔλαβεν Σαμουηλ ἄρνα γαλαθηνὸν ἕνα καὶ ἀνήνεγκεν αὐτὸν ὁλοκαύτωσιν σὺν παντὶ τῷ λαῷ τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐβόησεν Σαμουηλ πρὸς κύριον περὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐπήκουσεν αὐτοῦ κύριος

10 While Samuel was burning the offering, the Philistia army came near to attack the Israelis. But Yahweh caused it to thunder very loudly. The soldiers of the Philistia army became very frightened, and then they (became confused/did not know what to do). So the Israelis were able to defeat them.

καὶ ἦν Σαμουηλ ἀναφέρων τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν καὶ ἀλλόφυλοι προσῆγον εἰς πόλεμον ἐπὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐβρόντησεν κύριος ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους καὶ συνεχύθησαν καὶ ἔπταισαν ἐνώπιον Ισραηλ

11 The Israeli men ran out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistia soldiers almost to Beth-Car [town], and killed many Philistia soldiers while they were trying to run away.

καὶ ἐξῆλθαν ἄνδρες Ισραηλ ἐκ Μασσηφαθ καὶ κατεδίωξαν τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους καὶ ἐπάταξαν αὐτοὺς ἕως ὑποκάτω τοῦ Βαιθχορ

12 After that happened, Samuel took a large stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah [towns]. He named the stone ‘Ebenezer’, [which means ‘stone of help’], because he said “Yahweh has helped us until the present time.”

καὶ ἔλαβεν Σαμουηλ λίθον ἕνα καὶ ἔστησεν αὐτὸν ἀνὰ μέσον Μασσηφαθ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παλαιᾶς καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Αβενεζερ λίθος τοῦ βοηθοῦ καὶ εἶπεν ἕως ἐνταῦθα ἐβοήθησεν ἡμῖν κύριος

13 So the Philistia people were defeated, and for a long time they did not enter the Israeli land [to attack them] again. During the time that Samuel was alive, Yahweh powerfully protected [MTY] [the Israeli people] from [being attacked by] the Philistia army.

καὶ ἐταπείνωσεν κύριος τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους καὶ οὐ προσέθεντο ἔτι προσελθεῖν εἰς ὅριον Ισραηλ καὶ ἐγενήθη χεὶρ κυρίου ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ Σαμουηλ

14 The Israeli army was able to capture again the Israeli villages between Ekron and Gath that the Philistia army had captured before. The Israelis were also able to take again the other areas around those cities that the Philistia army had taken [from the Israelis] previously. And there was peace between the Israelis and the Amor people-group.

καὶ ἀπεδόθησαν αἱ πόλεις ἃς ἔλαβον οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ καὶ ἀπέδωκαν αὐτὰς τῷ Ισραηλ ἀπὸ Ἀσκαλῶνος ἕως Αζοβ καὶ τὸ ὅριον Ισραηλ ἀφείλαντο ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἦν εἰρήνη ἀνὰ μέσον Ισραηλ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ Αμορραίου

15 Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israeli people until he died.

καὶ ἐδίκαζεν Σαμουηλ τὸν Ισραηλ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ

16 As long as he was alive, every year he traveled back and forth between Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah [cities]. In those cities he listened to disputes between people and made decisions about them.

καὶ ἐπορεύετο κατ’ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ ἐκύκλου Βαιθηλ καὶ τὴν Γαλγαλα καὶ τὴν Μασσηφαθ καὶ ἐδίκαζεν τὸν Ισραηλ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις τούτοις

17 After he listened to disputes and made decisions in each of those towns, he returned to his home at Ramah, and he would listen to people’s disputes there, also, [and make decisions about them]. And he built an altar at Ramah [to offer sacrifices] to Yahweh.

ἡ δὲ ἀποστροφὴ αὐτοῦ εἰς Αρμαθαιμ ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἦν ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐδίκαζεν ἐκεῖ τὸν Ισραηλ καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον τῷ κυρίῳ