Thursday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2Verse 2. The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3Verse 3. When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the LORD brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.” 4Verse 4. So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5Verse 5. When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6Verse 6. On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, 7Verse 7. the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. 8Verse 8. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Verse 9. Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!” 10Verse 10. So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great — thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11Verse 11. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 12Verse 12. That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. 13Verse 13. When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the whole city cried out. 14Verse 14. Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to Eli. 15Verse 15. Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see. 16Verse 16. “I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked. 17Verse 17. The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18Verse 18. As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years. 19Verse 19. Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her. 20Verse 20. As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed. 21Verse 21. And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed. 22Verse 22. “The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”

9Verse 9. Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast? 10Verse 10. For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.” 11Verse 11. Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people 12Verse 12. to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen. 13Verse 13. Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.