1 Samuel 4; 1 Samuel 5; 1 Samuel 6; Luke 9:1-17

1 Samuel 4

1 And Samuel's word went out to all Israel. In those days the Philistines gathered for war against Israel, so Israel went out to engage the Philistines in war. Israel camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

2 The Philistines readied themselves to fight Israel. When the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.

3 When the troops returned to the camp, Israel's elders said, "Why did the LORD defeat us today before the Philistines? Let's bring the chest containing the LORD's covenant from Shiloh so it can go with us and save us from our enemies' power."

4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the chest containing the covenant of the LORD of heavenly forces, who sits enthroned on the winged heavenly creatures. Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the chest containing God's covenant.

5 When the chest containing the LORD's covenant entered the camp, all Israel let out such a loud shout that the ground shook.

6 When the Philistines heard the sound of that shout, they asked, "What is that loud shouting in the Hebrew camp about?" When they learned that the LORD's chest had come into the camp,

7 the Philistines were afraid and said, "A god has come into that camp! We're doomed," they said, "because nothing like this has ever happened before.

8 We're doomed! Who will deliver us from the grip of these powerful deities? They are the same gods who struck the Egyptians in the desert with every kind of wound.

9 Pull yourselves together and act like men, Philistines! Otherwise, you'll serve the Hebrews like they've been serving you. Act like men and fight!"

10 So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated, and everyone fled to their homes. It was a massive defeat: thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fell,

11 God's chest was taken, and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

12 That very day, a Benjaminite ran from the battle to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head.

13 When he got there, Eli was sitting in a chair beside the road, waiting because he was nervous about God's chest. The man arrived and gave the news to the city, and the whole city cried out.

14 Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, "What's all this noise about?" The man hurriedly went and told Eli the news. (

15 Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.)

16 The man told Eli, "I'm the one who just came from the battle. I fled from the battle today." "What's the report, my son?" Eli asked.

17 The messenger answered, "Israel has fled from the Philistines. The army has suffered a massive defeat. Also, your own two sons Hophni and Phinehas have died, and God's chest has been taken!"

18 At the mention of God's chest, Eli fell backward off the chair beside the gate. His neck broke, and he died because he was an old man and overweight. Eli had judged Israel for forty years.

19 Now Eli's daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news that God's chest had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she doubled over and gave birth because her labor pains overwhelmed her.

20 As she was about to die, the women standing by helping her said, "Don't be afraid. You've given birth to a son!" But she didn't answer or pay them any attention.

21 She named the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has left Israel," referring to the capture of God's chest and the death of her father-in-law and her husband.

22 "The glory has left Israel because God's chest has been taken," she said.

1 Samuel 5

1 After the Philistines took God's chest, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

2 Then the Philistines took God's chest and brought it into Dagon's temple and set it next to Dagon.

3 But when the citizens of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen facedown on the ground before the LORD's chest! So they took Dagon and set him back up where he belonged.

4 But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon again, fallen facedown on the ground before the LORD's chest—and this time Dagon's head along with both his hands were cut off and lying on the doorstep! Only Dagon's body was left intact.

5 That's why to this day Dagon's priests or anyone else who enters his temple in Ashdod doesn't step on the threshold.

6 The LORD's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod: God terrified them and struck them in Ashdod and its surroundings with tumors.

7 When Ashdod's inhabitants saw what was happening, they said, "The chest of Israel's God must not stay here with us because his hand is hard against us and against our god Dagon."

8 So they summoned all the Philistine rulers to a meeting and asked, "What should we do with the chest of Israel's God?" The people of Gath said, "Let the chest of Israel's God be moved to us." So they moved the chest of Israel's God to Gath.

9 But once they moved it, the LORD's hand came against the city, causing a huge panic. God struck the city's inhabitants, both young and old, and tumors broke out on them.

10 Then they sent God's chest to Ekron, but as soon as God's chest entered Ekron, the inhabitants cried out, "Why have you moved the chest of Israel's God to us? In order to kill us and our people?"

11 So they summoned all the Philistine rulers to a meeting and said, "Send the chest of Israel's God away! Let it go back to its own home so it doesn't kill us and our people," because there was a deadly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.

12 The people who didn't die were struck with tumors, and the screams of the city went all the way up to heaven.

1 Samuel 6

1 The LORD's chest was in Philistine territory for seven months.

2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners. "What should we do with the LORD's chest?" they asked. "Tell us how we should send it back to its own home."

3 They replied, "If you are returning the chest of Israel's God, don't send it back empty, but be sure to return a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will become clear to you why God's hand hasn't left you alone."

4 "What compensation offering should we return to him?" they asked. The priests and diviners replied: "Five gold tumors and five gold mice, matching the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague came on all of you and your rulers.

5 You must make images of your tumors and the mice that have devastated the land. Honor Israel's God. Perhaps he will lighten the weight of his hand on you, your gods, and your land.

6 Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? After God had dealt harshly with them, didn't they send the Israelites on their way?

7 So get a new cart ready along with two nursing cows that have never been yoked before. Harness the cows to the cart, but take any of their calves that are following back home.

8 Next, take the LORD's chest and put it in the cart. Set the gold items that you are giving God as a compensation offering in a box next to the chest. Then send it on its way.

9 Then watch what happens: If the cart goes up the road to its own territory toward Beth-shemesh, then Israel's God has brought this great disaster on us. If the cart goes another way, then we'll know that it wasn't God's hand that struck us. It happened to us randomly."

10 The rulers did just that. They took two nursing cows and harnessed them to the cart, penning their calves up at home.

11 They put the LORD's chest on the cart along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors.

12 The cows went straight ahead, following the road to Beth-shemesh. They kept to one route, mooing as they went, without turning right or left. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the territory of Beth-shemesh.

13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were overjoyed at the sight.

14 The cart entered the field belonging to Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped right by a large stone. They chopped up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as an entirely burned offering to the LORD.

15 The Levites unloaded the LORD's chest and the box that was with it that contained all the gold items, and they set them on the large stone. That very day the people of Beth-shemesh offered entirely burned offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.

16 When the five Philistine rulers witnessed this, they went straight back to Ekron.

17 These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a compensation offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.

18 The gold mice matched the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, from fortified cities to country villages. And the large stone they set the LORD's chest on is a witness even now in the field that belongs to Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

19 But God struck down some of the people from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the LORD's chest. God struck seventy people, and the community grieved because the LORD had struck them so severely.

20 The people of Beth-shemesh said, "Who can stand before the LORD, this holy God? Where can he go that is away from us here?"

21 They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim. "The Philistines returned the LORD's chest!" they said. "Come down and take it back with you."

Luke 9:1-17

1 Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses.

2 He sent them out to proclaim God's kingdom and to heal the sick.

3 He told them, "Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt.

4 Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place.

5 Wherever they don't welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them."

6 They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

7 Herod the ruler heard about everything that was happening. He was confused because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead,

8 others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life.

9 Herod said, "I beheaded John, so now who am I hearing about?" Herod wanted to see him.

10 When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida.

11 When the crowds figured it out, they followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God's kingdom, and healed those who were sick.

12 When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place."

13 He replied, "You give them something to eat." But they said, "We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people."

14 (They said this because about five thousand men were present.) Jesus said to his disciples, "Seat them in groups of about fifty."

15 They did so, and everyone was seated.

16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

17 Everyone ate until they were full, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.