¹So the men of Kiriath-Jearim came and brought the ark of the Lord up, and they brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they sanctified Eleazar his son for him to keep the ark of the Lord. ²And it came to pass, since the day when the ark remained in Kiriath-Jearim, that much time passed, and twenty years went by, and the whole house of Israel lamented before the Lord. ³Then Samuel spoke to the whole house of Israel and said, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods from your vicinity, including the images of Astarte, and prepare your heart for the Lord, and serve him alone, and may he deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴So the sons of Israel removed the images of Baal and the images of Astarte, and they served the Lord only. ⁵Then Samuel said, “Assemble all of Israel in Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶So they assembled in Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah. ⁷And the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had assembled in Mizpah, and the barons of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not refrain in silence from crying out to the Lord our God on behalf of us, so that he saves us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a complete burnt offering to the Lord, and Samuel cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰And Samuel was performing the burnt offering when the Philistines approached to wage war on Israel, but the Lord made it thunder on the Philistines with a loud sound on that day, and he routed them, and they were struck down before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and they struck them down as far as below Beth-Car. ¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and he put it between Mizpah and Shen, and he called it Eben-Ezer, and he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us.” ¹³So the Philistines were defeated, and they did not come into Israel's territory again, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines for all Samuel's days. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had captured from Israel returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel rescued their borders from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorite. ¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And each year he went round Beth-El and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷And his final stop was to Ramah, for that is where his house was, and he judged Israel there, and he built an altar to the Lord there.