“‘ This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with deep contempt, destroying because of their perpetual hatred,

主耶和华如此说：“因非利士人向犹大人报仇，就是以恨恶的心报仇雪恨，永怀仇恨，要毁灭他们，

“主耶和华如此说：因非利士人报仇，就是心存轻蔑报仇；他们永怀仇恨，意图毁灭，

“主耶和华如此说：因非利士人报仇，就是心存轻蔑报仇；他们永怀仇恨，意图毁灭，

“主耶和华说，‘非利士人心存仇恨，为了报世仇要毁灭犹大，

主耶和华这样说：“因为非利士人向犹大人报仇雪恨，心存轻蔑报仇雪恨，他们永远怀恨，要毁灭犹大，

主耶和華如此說：「因非利士人向猶大人報仇，就是以恨惡的心報仇雪恨，永懷仇恨，要毀滅他們，

「主耶和華如此說：因非利士人報仇，就是心存輕蔑報仇；他們永懷仇恨，意圖毀滅，

「主耶和華如此說：因非利士人報仇，就是心存輕蔑報仇；他們永懷仇恨，意圖毀滅，

「主耶和華說，『非利士人心存仇恨，為了報世仇要毀滅猶大，

主耶和華這樣說：“因為非利士人向猶大人報仇雪恨，心存輕蔑報仇雪恨，他們永遠懷恨，要毀滅猶大，

『永恆主這麼說：非利士人對猶大人既行了報仇的事，既滿心懷着輕蔑之意而報仇，以永存的仇恨心要毁滅他們，

主耶和華曰、非利士人心存蔑視、而行報復、從其永憾、圖滅我民、

主耶和華曰、非利士人藏匿舊怨、中心叵測、以害我民、

主天主如是云、非利士人攻我民、狂傲復仇、欲翦滅之、乃從其舊恨、

“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says:‘ Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah,

The Lord and King says,“ Deep down inside them, the Philistines hated Judah. So the Philistines tried to get even with them. They had been Judah’s enemies for many years. So they tried to destroy them.”

“ Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines acted revengefully and took vengeance with malice of soul to destroy in never-ending enmity,

“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Philistia have acted against Judah out of bitter revenge and long standing contempt.

‘ This is what the Lord God says:“ Because the Philistines have acted in revenge, and have taken vengeance with malice in their souls to destroy with everlasting hostility,”

‘ Thus says the Lord GOD:“ Because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred,”

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity;

This is what the Lord God says:“ Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with deep contempt, destroying because of their ancient hatred,

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy[ it] for the old hatred;

“ This is what the sovereign LORD says:‘ The Philistines have exacted merciless revenge, showing intense scorn in their effort to destroy Judah with unrelenting hostility.

“‘ The Lord Yahweh says:“ Because the Philistines have taken revenge, and have taken vengeance with contempt of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility;”

“‘ For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced over the land of Israel with wholehearted contempt,

Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come from the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed, and the impoverished will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root with hunger, and your remnant will be slain.Wail, you gates! Cry out, city! Tremble with fear, all Philistia! For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.

“‘ This is what the Lord GOD says: Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah and incurred grievous guilt by taking revenge on them,

The Philistines also raided the cities of the Judean foothills and the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, as well as Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages.

and all the mixed peoples; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines— Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

The LORD says: I will not relent from punishing Gaza for three crimes, even four, because they exiled a whole community, handing them over to Edom.Therefore, I will send fire against the walls of Gaza, and it will consume its citadels.I will cut off the ruler from Ashdod, and the one who wields the scepter from Ashkelon. I will also turn my hand against Ekron, and the remainder of the Philistines will perish. The Lord GOD has spoken.

his son Zabad, his son Shuthelah, also Ezer, and Elead. The men of Gath, born in the land, killed them because they went down to raid their cattle.

And Samuel’s words came to all Israel. Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek.The Philistines lined up in battle formation against Israel, and as the battle intensified, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked,“ Why did the LORD defeat us today before the Philistines? Let’s bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh. Then it will go with us and save us from our enemies.”So the people sent men to Shiloh to bring back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a loud shout that the ground shook.The Philistines heard the sound of the war cry and asked,“ What’s this loud shout in the Hebrews’ camp?” When the Philistines discovered that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp,

Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain, as will Ekron, for her hope will fail. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abhorrent things from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah and Ekron like the Jebusites.I will encamp at my house as a guard, against those who march back and forth, and no oppressor will march against them again, for now I have seen with my own eyes.

Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have consumed Israel with open mouths. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia— what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures to your temples.You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory.Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads.I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the LORD has spoken.Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack!Beat your plows into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let even the weakling say,“ I am a warrior.”Come quickly, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves. Bring down your warriors there, LORD.Let the nations be roused and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the surrounding nations.Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is extreme.Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease their shining.The LORD will roar from Zion and make his voice heard from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never overrun it again.In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will issue from the LORD’s house, watering the Valley of Acacias.Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah in whose land they shed innocent blood.But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the LORD dwells in Zion.

David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him,“ Why are you alone and no one is with you?”David answered the priest Ahimelech,“ The king gave me a mission, but he told me,‘ Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place.Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”The priest told him,“ There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”David answered him,“ I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. The young men’s bodies are consecrated even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.”So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the LORD. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.One of Saul’s servants, detained before the LORD, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.David said to Ahimelech,“ Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”The priest replied,“ The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”“ There’s none like it!” David said.“ Give it to me.”David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.But Achish’s servants said to him,“ Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?”David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the city gate and letting saliva run down his beard.“ Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants.“ Why did you bring him to me?Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”

This is the word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistines before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.This is what the LORD says: Look, water is rising from the north and becoming an overflowing wadi. It will overflow the land and everything in it, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and every inhabitant of the land will wail.At the sound of the stomping hooves of his stallions, the rumbling of his chariots, and the clatter of their wheels, fathers will not turn back for their sons. They will be utterly helplesson account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.Baldness is coming to Gaza; Ashkelon will become silent. Remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?Oh, sword of the LORD! How long will you be restless? Go back to your sheath; be still; be silent!How can it rest when the LORD has given it a command? He has assigned it against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea.

Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.He chose three thousand men from Israel for himself: two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in Bethel’s hill country, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the troops away, each to his own tent.Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison in Gibeah, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land saying,“ Let the Hebrews hear!”And all Israel heard the news,“ Saul has attacked the Philistine garrison, and Israel is now repulsive to the Philistines.” Then the troops were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.The Philistines also gathered to fight against Israel: three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because the troops were in a difficult situation. They hid in caves, in thickets, among rocks, and in holes and cisterns.Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, was still at Gilgal, and all his troops were gripped with fear.He waited seven days for the appointed time that Samuel had set, but Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the troops were deserting him.So Saul said,“ Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then he offered the burnt offering.Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. So Saul went out to greet him,and Samuel asked,“ What have you done?” Saul answered,“ When I saw that the troops were deserting me and you didn’t come within the appointed days and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash,I thought,‘ The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”Samuel said to Saul,“ You have been foolish. You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. It was at this time that the LORD would have permanently established your reign over Israel,but now your reign will not endure. The LORD has found a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the LORD commanded.”

The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them.Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches talland wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds.There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders.His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations,“ Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them,“ Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”Then the Philistine said,“ I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!”When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man.Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third,and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand.One day Jesse had told his son David,“ Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the well-being of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them.They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him. He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry.Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other.David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were.While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard.When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.Previously, an Israelite man had declared,“ Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”David spoke to the men who were standing with him:“ What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”The troops told him about the offer, concluding,“ That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him.“ Why did you come down here?” he asked.“ Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart— you came down to see the battle!”“ What have I done now?” protested David.“ It was just a question.”Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him.David said to Saul,“ Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”But Saul replied,“ You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”David answered Saul,“ Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”Then David said,“ The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David,“ Go, and may the LORD be with you.”Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor.David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them.“ I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul,“ I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome.He said to David,“ Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods.“ Come here,” the Philistine called to David,“ and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”David said to the Philistine,“ You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel— you have defied him.Today, the LORD will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the LORD saves, for the battle is the LORD’s. He will hand you over to us.”When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army,“ Whose son is this youth, Abner?”“ Your Majesty, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied.The king said,“ Find out whose son this young man is!”When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand.Saul said to him,“ Whose son are you, young man?”“ The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.

For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon will become a ruin. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast, nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy you until there is no one left.The seacoast will become pasturelands with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.The coastland will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; they will find pasture there. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will return to them and restore their fortunes.

After this, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Metheg-ammah from Philistine control.He also defeated the Moabites, and after making them lie down on the ground, he measured them off with a cord. He measured every two cord lengths of those to be put to death and one full length of those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute.David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his control at the Euphrates River.David captured seventeen hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers from him, and he hamstrung all the horses and kept a hundred chariots.When the Arameans of Damascus came to assist King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand Aramean men.Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The LORD made David victorious wherever he went.David took the gold shields of Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem.King David also took huge quantities of bronze from Betah and Berothai, Hadadezer’s cities.When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him because David had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Toi and Hadadezer had fought many wars. Joram had items of silver, gold, and bronze with him.King David also dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued—from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Amalekites, and the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.David made a reputation for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in Salt Valley.He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. The LORD made David victorious wherever he went.So David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people.Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was court historian;Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was court secretary;Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials.

Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there.He went back and told his father and his mother,“ I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”But his father and mother said to him,“ Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father,“ Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were ruling Israel.Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she seemed right to Samson.After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass.He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty men to accompany him.“ Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them.“ If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”“ Tell us your riddle,” they replied.“ Let’s hear it.”So he said to them: Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle.On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife,“ Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said,“ You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”“ Look,” he said,“ I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”