1 Samuel 7

7 ¹ The men of Kiriath-jearim came, took the ark of our Father, brought it to Abinadab's house on the hill, and dedicated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of our Father. ² From the day the ark stayed at Kiriath-jearim, twenty years passed, and the whole house of Israel mourned and sought after our Father. ³ Then Samuel spoke to the whole house of Israel: "If you're returning to our Father with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, set your hearts on our Father, and serve him alone — and he will rescue you from the Philistines." ⁴ So Israel's people removed the Baals and Ashtaroth, and served our Father alone. ⁵ Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to our Father for you." ⁶ They gathered at Mizpah, drew water, poured it before our Father, fasted that day, and confessed, "We have sinned against our Father." Samuel judged Israel at Mizpah. ^a a v6 Pouring out water before God was a ritual act of prayer, mourning, and self-humbling.

⁷ The Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, and the Philistine rulers marched up against Israel. The Israelites heard, and feared the Philistines. ⁸ The Israelites said to Samuel, "Don't stop crying out to our Father for us, so he'll save us from the Philistines." ⁹ Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to our Father. Samuel cried out to our Father for Israel, and our Father answered him. ¹⁰ As Samuel offered the burnt offering, the Philistines advanced to attack Israel. But that day our Father thundered with a great voice against the Philistines, threw them into panic, and they were defeated before Israel. ¹¹ Israel's men left Mizpah, chased the Philistines, and struck them down to below Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone, set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, "Up to now our Father has helped us." ^b b v12 Ebenezer means "stone of help" — Samuel set it up to remember how far our Father had carried them. ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israel's territory again; our Father's hand opposed the Philistines throughout Samuel's lifetime. ¹⁴ Israel got back the cities Philistines had taken, from Ekron to Gath, recovering its territory from Philistine hands. Israel also had peace with the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ He went year by year, circuiting Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, judging Israel at all these places. ¹⁷ So he went back to Ramah, his home, and judged Israel there. There he built an altar to our Father.