1 Samuel 7:9-13

7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ¹  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. ²  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ³  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. ⁴  He named it Ebenezer, ⁵  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.” 7:13 So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

² tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

³ tn Heb “before.”

⁴ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

⁵ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.