Bible Strands
1 Samuel 7:12
Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Samuel, immediately after Israel's pursuit and defeat of the Philistines (v. 11), sets up a stone between Mizpah and Shen.
The words — אֶ֣בֶן ('E.ven), "a stone," is the concrete object Samuel takes and sets; the declaration that follows functions as its name.
The thread — Joshua 4:9 sets up twelve stones in the Jordan as a memorial of God's act; 2 Corinthians 1:10 and Acts 26:22 both echo the "thus far" language of God's sustaining help.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to identify a specific point where God's help is real and name it, rather than holding gratitude in the abstract.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben–ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 1:10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,
- Joshua 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.
- Acts 26:22 But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:
- Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Genesis 35:14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,
- Isaiah 46:3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
- Genesis 31:45 So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,
- Genesis 28:18 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
- Joshua 24:26 Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD.