1 Samuel 7:8-12

7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ¹  crying out to the Lord our ²  God so that he may save us ³  from the hand of the Philistines!” 7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ⁴  and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ⁵  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ⁶  Israel. 7:11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ⁷  He named it Ebenezer, ⁸  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”

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¹ tn Heb “don’t stop.”

² tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

³ tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

⁴ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

⁵ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

⁶ tn Heb “before.”

⁷ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

⁸ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.