1st Shamu'AL (1 Samuel) — 7

1 So the men of Kiriath-Yaarim came to get the Ark of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Alaazar, his son, to be in charge of it. 

2 The Ark remained in Kiriath-Yaarim for a long time, twenty years in all. During that time all Yashar'AL mourned because it seemed 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH had abandoned them.

Shamu'AL Leads Yashar'AL to Victory

3 Then Shamu'AL said to all the people of Yashar'AL, “If you want to return to  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign idols and your images of Ashturath. Turn your hearts to the  𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL and obey only 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH; then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH will rescue you from the Philistines.” 

4 So the Yasharalym got rid of their images of Baal and Ashturath and worshiped only  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.

5 Then Shamu'AL told them, “Gather all of Yashar'AL to Mizpah, and I will pray to  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH for you.” 

6 So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. (It was at Mizpah that Shamu'AL became Yashar'AL’s judge.)

7 When the Philistine rulers heard that Yashar'AL had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Yasharalym were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. 

8 “Do not stop pleading with 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Shamu'AL. 

9 So Shamu'AL took a young lamb and offered it to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH to help Yashar'AL, and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH answered him.

10 Just as Shamu'AL was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Yashar'AL. But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar with a mighty voice of thunder from Shamaym that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Yasharalym defeated them. 

11 The men of Yashar'AL chased them from Mizpah to a place below Bath-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

12 Shamu'AL then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Yashanah, Shamu'AL named it Abanazar (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has helped us!”

13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Yashar'AL again for some time. And throughout Shamu'AL’s lifetime, the powerful hand of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH was raised against the Philistines. 

14 The Yasharalym villages near Akrun and Gath that the Philistines had captured were restored to Yashar'AL, along with the rest of the territory that the Philistines had taken, and there was Shalum between Yashar'AL and the Amurites in those days.

15 Shamu'AL continued as Yashar'AL’s judge for the rest of his life. 

16 Each year he traveled around, setting up his court first at Bathal, then at Gilgal, and then at Mizpah, he judged the people of Yashar'AL at each of these places. 

17 Then he would return to his home at Ramah, and he would hear cases there, too, and Shamu'AL built an altar to  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH at Ramah.