Bible Strands
1 Samuel 7:9
Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Samuel acts as Israel's mediator during a military crisis, responding to the people's plea for deliverance from the Philistines. He presents a sacrifice and intercedes while the enemy approaches.
The words — The Hebrew טְלֵה חָלָב (təleh ḥālāḇ) literally denotes a "lamb of milk," specifying the precise age and condition of the sacrifice. This term highlights the freshness and unblemished quality required for the עוֹלָה (ʿōlâ), or "whole burnt offering."
The thread — Samuel's intercessory role echoes in Psalms 99:6 and Jeremiah 15:1, where he is grouped with Moses and Aaron as a key prophet who called on God. His ongoing ministry in Ramah is noted in 1 Samuel 7:17.
Why it lands — The text records a direct cause-and-effect sequence: sacrifice and prayer precede divine intervention. It requires the reader to acknowledge that intercession and obedience are the prescribed means for national deliverance.
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 Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 15:1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go!
- Psalms 99:6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called to the LORD and He answered.
- 1 Samuel 7:17 Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.
- Psalms 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- 1 Samuel 16:2 “How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
- James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Judges 6:28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.
- 1 Samuel 6:14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 9:12 “Yes, he is ahead of you,” they answered. “Hurry now, for today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice on the high place.
- 1 Samuel 10:8 And you shall go before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you are to do.”