“And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel: If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you. Direct your heart to the LORD, and serve him alone, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines—Samuel's prophetic summons is conditional: *im attem shavim el-YHWH bekhol-levav* (if you return to the LORD with all your heart). The *elohim achrim* (foreign gods) and *Ashtaroth* (Canaanite fertility goddesses) must be abandoned. The return is *yachid* (exclusive), singular in devotion; only then will divine deliverance come.
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