Bible Strands
1 Samuel 7:6
When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Samuel has commanded the Israelites to assemble at Mizpah while he alone intercedes before God. The people comply by gathering there to enact a public ritual of repentance.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יִּשְׁפְּכ֣וּ (va/i.yish.pe.Khu), meaning "and they poured out," describing the physical act of pouring drawn water before Yahweh. It also notes וַ/יָּצ֙וּמוּ֙ (va/i.ya.Tzu.mu), meaning "and they fasted," marking the day's discipline.
The thread — This water-pouring ritual parallels Hannah’s pouring out of her soul in 1 Samuel 1:15 and the irreversible loss described in 2 Samuel 14:14. The verbal confession "We have sinned against the LORD" echoes the pattern found in Judges 10:10.
Why it lands — The passage records a concrete sequence: gathering, pouring water, fasting, confessing sin, and judicial oversight. It requires the reader to recognize repentance as a public, disciplined act that precedes divine intervention and communal judgment.
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
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 1:15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 14:14 For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
- Judges 10:10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”
- Psalms 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
- Psalms 106:6 We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
- Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
- 1 Kings 8:47 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
- Job 33:27 Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
- Psalms 119:136 My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.