Discovery Box1 Samuel 7:8-12 
Context7:8 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.”
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.
