The wives of Elkanah were Hannah and Peninnah.

At that time Hannah had no children.

He gave a double portion to Hannah because he loved her.

She provoked Hannah in order to make her upset, because Yahweh had closed her womb.

She went to the house of Yahweh, and she cried very sorrowfully as she prayed to Yahweh.

Hannah vowed that if Yahweh would give her a son, she would give him to Yahweh and they would never cut his hair.

Eli saw Hannah’s lips moving but did not hear her voice, so he thought she was drunk.

Hannah assured Eli that she was not drunk but was talking to Yahweh because someone made her feel very badly.

Eli told her to go in peace and said that he hoped the God of Israel would grant her request.

Hannah named her son Samuel because she had requested him from Yahweh.

She did not go because she was waiting until her son was weaned.

Hannah brought three bulls, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine.

Hannah presented her son to Yahweh for as long as he would live.

Hannah laughed because she rejoiced in Yahweh’s salvation.

People should not boast or speak arrogantly because Yahweh is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The woman who had many children before is not able to have any more.

Yahweh is the one who decides death and life, and who causes people to go down to Sheol or to come up from there.

Yahweh makes people poor, and he makes them rich.

Yahweh raises them up to sit in a seat of honor.

Hannah says that Yahweh will guard the feet of his faithful people and will silence the wicked.

Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth and give strength to his king.

Samuel served Yahweh in the presence of Eli the priest.

Eli the priest’s sons did very bad things.

The custom was for the priest’s servant to come with a three-pronged fork while the meat was boiling and take whatever the fork brought up for the priest.

They had their servant demand raw meat for the priest before the fat was burned as an offering to Yahweh, and had him take it by force if the person refused.

Their sin was great before Yahweh because the men were treating very disrespectfully the offerings that people were bringing to Yahweh.

She would make him a small robe each year.

Eli blessed them by asking Yahweh to give them more children from Hannah.

Yahweh helped Hannah, and she bore three more sons and two daughters.

Eli told his sons that the report he was hearing from Yahweh’s people about their evil deeds was not good. He told them to stop doing what they were doing.

Eli’s sons did not listen to his voice because Yahweh desired to make them die.

Samuel grew up and was good in the sight of Yahweh and with men.

A man of God told Eli that Yahweh had chosen his ancestors.

They scorned the sacrifices and offerings by honoring his sons above Yahweh and fattening themselves on the best parts of offerings.

Yahweh told Eli that all the men born in his family would die young.

The sign would be that both of his sons would die on the same day.

Yahweh has chosen another man who will serve him faithfully and continually be a helper to the king whom Yahweh will appoint.

They will ask him to allow them to work with the other priests so that they can have food to eat.

Samuel replied that he was ready to do whatever you ask.

Eli said that he did not call Samuel and told him to go lie down again.

The word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to Samuel.

Eli realized that it was Yahweh who had been calling Samuel.

Eli told Samuel to say that Yahweh should speak, because his servant was listening.

Yahweh said that the ears of everyone who heard it would tingle.

Eli’s sons had brought a curse upon themselves.

The iniquity of Eli’s house would never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.

He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.

All Israel knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of Yahweh.

Israel was defeated by the Philistines.

The elders decided to bring the Box of the Covenant of Yahweh from Shiloh to be with them.

The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Box of the Covenant.

The Philistines wondered about the meaning of the great shout in the camp of the Hebrews.

The Philistines said that a god had come into the camp.

They said that the gods had struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague.

The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

When the man told the news, the whole city cried out.

Eli asked what the sound of the tumult meant.

The man told Eli that his two sons were dead and the Box of God had been taken.

Eli broke his neck and he died.

Phinehas’s wife knelt down and gave birth because her labor pains suddenly began.

She named the baby Ichabod, saying that the glory had departed from Israel because the Box of God had been taken.

Dagon was found fallen face down on the ground before the Box of Yahweh.

Only the body of Dagon remained; his head and hands were lying cut off in the doorway.

They said it should not stay because the hand of their God was severe against them and against their god Dagon.

The Philistines moved the Box to Gath.

Yahweh struck them with tumors.

They said that it would kill them and their people.

They asked that the Box be sent back to its own place.

The cry of the city went up to the heavens.

The Box was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.

They called for the priests and the diviners to tell them how to send the Box back.

They told the Philistines to send five gold tumors and five gold mice.

Because when God dealt severely with the Egyptians and Pharaoh, they had to let Israel go.

They told the Philistines to hitch two nursing cows to the cart.

The Philistines would know it was Yahweh if the cows pulling the cart went on their own to Beth Shemesh.

The cows went straight in the direction of Beth Shemesh.

They were harvesting their wheat in the valley.

They offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

The Levites took down the Box of Yahweh and the box that was with it.

They returned that day to Ekron.

The five gold tumors represented the people of their five cities, and the gold mice represented all the Philistine cities belonging to those rulers.

Yahweh struck them because they looked into his Box.

The messengers asked the people of Kiriath Jearim to come and take the Box of Yahweh to their city.

They consecrated him to keep the Box of Yahweh.

During that time, the Israelite people were very sorry that Yahweh was not helping them anymore.

Samuel told them that they needed to remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among them and serve Yahweh only.

They admitted that they had sinned against Yahweh.

They were afraid because they heard that the rulers of the Philistines were coming to attack them.

Yahweh answered Samuel.

Yahweh thundered with a great sound on that day against the Philistines.

Samuel took a stone and set it up.

They were recaptured by Israel.

Samuel judged Israel in all these places.

They were not honest like their father. They accepted bribes, and they did not make honest decisions about people’s disputes.

They asked Samuel to appoint a king to judge them, like all the other nations.

Samuel prayed to Yahweh.

Yahweh told Samuel to listen because the people were not rejecting Samuel, but they were rejecting Yahweh from reigning over them.

Yahweh told Samuel to warn the people about the way the king would rule over them.

Samuel warned that the king would take their sons to be officers and soldiers, to plow his fields and harvest his crops, and to make weapons of war.

Samuel warned that the king would take their daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers, and he would take the best of their fields and vineyards and olive groves to give to his attendants.

Samuel warned that the king would take their servants, the best of their young men and donkeys, and a tenth of their flocks, and the people would become his servants.

Samuel said that Yahweh would not answer them on that day.

The people refused to listen and said they wanted a king over them so they could be like the other nations.

Yahweh told Samuel to listen to their voice and appoint a king for them.

Saul was a handsome young man who was taller than any of the other people from his shoulders upward.

Saul took one of the servants and passed through many places without finding them.

Saul told his servant that they should go back so his father would not stop being concerned about the donkeys and become concerned about them.

The servant suggested they should go to a man of God in the city who might tell them the way they should go.

The servant had a fourth of a shekel of silver to give to the man of God.

Saul and his servant asked if the seer was in the city.

The seer was coming to the city because the people were having a sacrifice at the high place, and he would bless the sacrifice.

Yahweh told Samuel that he was to anoint Saul as ruler over Israel, and Saul would save Yahweh’s people from the hand of the Philistines.

Samuel invited Saul to go up and eat with him at the high place.

Samuel told him that all the desire of Israel was for him and his father’s house, even though Saul was from the least clan of the smallest tribe.

Samuel told the cook to serve Saul the thigh portion that had been set aside for him for the appointed time.

Samuel told Saul to get up so he could send him on his way.

Samuel told Saul to stand still so Samuel could tell him the word of God.

He did this because Yahweh had anointed Saul to be a ruler over his inheritance.

Samuel told Saul that he would find two men near Rachel’s tomb who would tell him that the donkeys had been found.

Three men going up to God at Bethel would meet him and give him two loaves of bread, which he should take.

The Spirit of Yahweh would rush upon him, he would prophesy with a group of prophets, and he would be changed into a different man.

Samuel told Saul to go down to Gilgal and wait seven days for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices.

When Saul turned to leave, God changed Saul’s inner being.

They saw him prophesying with the prophets and wondered how this had happened to the son of Kish.

Saul told his uncle that when he and his servant could not find the donkeys, they went to Samuel.

Saul did not tell his uncle about the matter of the kingship.

Israel had rejected Yahweh because they had asked for a king to be set over them.

They looked for Saul, but he could not be found.

Saul had hidden himself among the bags.

Samuel said that there was no one like Saul among all the people.

Samuel told the people the customs of the kingship, wrote them in a book, and placed the book before Yahweh.

Some wicked men despised Saul and did not bring him a gift.

He said he would make a covenant with them if he could gouge out all their right eyes and bring disgrace on Israel.

They asked for seven days to send messengers throughout Israel to see if anyone would save them.

They were weeping because they had heard the words of the men from Jabesh.

The Spirit of God rushed upon him, he became very angry, and he persuaded the men of Israel and Judah to fight.

They told the men of Jabesh that they would have deliverance the next day by the time the sun was hot.

They told Nahash that they would come out to him the next day, and he could do to them whatever seemed good to him.

The people of Israel attacked and defeated the Ammonites, and the survivors were totally scattered.

Saul said no one would be put to death, because that day Yahweh had brought deliverance to Israel.

They went to Gilgal to renew the kingship, make Saul king before Yahweh, and sacrifice peace offerings.

The people of Israel told Samuel he had not defrauded or oppressed them or taken anything from anyone.

He told them to present themselves so he could make the case against them that they should not have asked for a king instead of trusting Yahweh to rescue them.

Yahweh sold them into the hand of Sisera, the Philistines, and the king of Moab, who all fought against them.

Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel to rescue them.

Samuel reminded the people that they had wanted a king to reign over them, even though Yahweh their God was their king.

They could fear Yahweh and serve him, or they could rebel against his command and his hand would be against them.

Samuel challenged the people to stand and see the great thing Yahweh is doing before their eyes.

He asked Yahweh to send thunder and rain during the wheat harvest.

Samuel told the people not to be afraid, but to serve Yahweh with all their heart and not turn aside.

Samuel comforted the people by telling them that Yahweh would not forsake them, because of his great name.

He promised to continue to pray for them and to instruct them in the good and right way.

Samuel told them to fear Yahweh and serve him faithfully with all their heart, considering the great things he had done for them.

Saul sent the rest of the soldiers home to their own tents.

They made themselves stink among the Philistines because Jonathan had struck the garrison of the Philistines at Geba.

They gathered 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people as numerous as the sand on the seashore to fight against Israel.

They were distressed, so they hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, pits, and cisterns, and some fled across the Jordan.

Saul offered the burnt offering himself.

He said he saw that the Philistine army was going to attack, and he had not yet asked Yahweh to help Israel, so he forced himself to offer the burnt offering.

Because Saul did not obey Yahweh’s command, none of his descendants will become king. Instead, Yahweh has found someone else who will do what he wants him to do, and he will make that person the next king of Israel.

Samuel told Saul that he had acted foolishly by not keeping the command that Yahweh gave him.

The Philistines sent out soldiers in three groups to attack different Israelite towns.

There were no blacksmiths in all the land of Israel, so they could not make swords or spears.

None of the people with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in their hand.

Jonathan planned to cross over to the Philistines’ garrison, but he did not tell his father.

They did not know that Jonathan had gone.

Jonathan proposed that they cross over to the garrison of the uncircumcised, because perhaps Yahweh would act for them.

Jonathan’s armor-bearer told him to do all that was in his heart and that he was with him and would help him in all that he wanted to do.

If the Philistines told them to come up to them, that would be the sign.

He told his armor-bearer to follow him because Yahweh had given the Philistines into the hand of Israel.

Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed about twenty men.

Saul had the people counted to see who was missing, and they discovered it was Jonathan and his armor-bearer.

Saul wanted to inquire of God, but he stopped because the tumult in the Philistine camp was increasing.

The Hebrews who had previously deserted to the Philistines in their camp rejoined the Israelites. Now those men helped Saul and Jonathan and the other Israelite soldiers fight against the Philistines.

Yahweh saved Israel that day.

Saul had put the people under an oath, cursing any man who ate food before evening.

Jonathan, who had not heard the oath, ate some honey from a honeycomb.

Jonathan said that if the people had been allowed to eat from the plunder of their enemies, the slaughter among the Philistines would have been greater.

The people ate meat with the blood still in it.

Saul believed that God did not answer him on that day because someone had sinned.

He said that the person who committed the sin would surely die, even if it was his son Jonathan.

The priest threw a lot, and it indicated that either Jonathan or Saul had sinned, not one of the other Israelite soldiers. He threw the lot again, and the lot indicated that Jonathan had sinned.

The people redeemed Jonathan and would not allow him to die because he had brought about a great salvation for Israel.

Saul fought against all his enemies on every side and rescued Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.

Yahweh wanted to punish Amalek for what he had done to Israel when he opposed them on the way up from Egypt.

He warned the Kenites to move away because they had shown kindness to the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt. He did not want to kill them when he killed the Amalekites.

Saul spared King Agag and the best of the sheep, cattle, and lambs, and was not willing to devote them to destruction as Yahweh had commanded.

Yahweh regretted making Saul king because Saul had turned from following him and was no longer obedient to him.

Saul told Samuel that he had obeyed what Yahweh told him to do.

Samuel asked about the bleating of sheep and the lowing of cattle that he was hearing.

He said the people had spared the best of the sheep and cattle so they could sacrifice them to Yahweh.

He told Saul that Yahweh had sent him to devote the sinners, the Amalekites, to destruction, but instead he had swooped down on the plunder and done evil.

Saul insisted that he had obeyed, but that the people brought back the best of the plunder to sacrifice to Yahweh at Gilgal.

Samuel said that to obey is better than sacrifice, and that rebellion is as the sin of divination, and because Saul rejected Yahweh’s word, Yahweh rejected him as king.

Saul said he had disobeyed Yahweh’s command because he was afraid of the people, and so he listened to their voice.

Samuel said that Yahweh had rejected Saul from being king over Israel because Saul had rejected the word of Yahweh.

Samuel told Saul that Yahweh was going to give the kingdom to one of Saul’s neighbors, an Israelite who was a better man than Saul.

Samuel hacked King Agag to pieces before Yahweh.

Yahweh told him to stop because he had rejected Saul from being king over Israel.

He feared that Saul would kill him.

Yahweh told Samuel that he would show him what to do and that Samuel should anoint the one Yahweh told him to anoint.

They came trembling to meet him and asked if his coming was in peace.

He thought that surely Yahweh’s anointed one was standing before him.

Yahweh said that a human looks on the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks on the heart.

Samuel said that Yahweh had not chosen any of them.

The youngest son was out in the pasture tending the flock of sheep.

The Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day forward.

A bad spirit from Yahweh terrified him.

When the bad spirit was on Saul, the person would play the lyre, and would calm down.

Saul asked Jesse to send his son David, who was with the flock.

Saul made David his armor-bearer.

The bad spirit would turn away from Saul, and he would calm down and feel better.

They had drawn up in battle array to fight the Philistines.

He had a helmet of bronze on his head.

He had a curved sword of bronze between his shoulders.

Goliath called them servants of Saul.

He said the Philistines would become servants to Israel.

They lost their courage and became terrified.

The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle.

He presented himself for forty days, morning and evening.

The army was going out to the battle array, shouting the war cry.

As David spoke, the champion, Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came out from the ranks of the Philistines.

The king would enrich the man with great wealth, give him his daughter in marriage, and no longer require that man’s family to pay taxes or do unpaid work for the Israelite kingdom.

The man who killed the Philistine would turn away the disgrace from Israel.

Eliab accused David of presumption and evil in his heart, saying David’s motive for coming was to watch the battle.

David told Saul that he would go and fight with the Philistine.

He went out after it, struck it, and delivered the sheep from its mouth; if it rose against him, he would seize its jaw and strike it and kill it.