Shmuel Alef (I Samuel) is the first part of Sefer Shmuel, the third book of Neviim (the Prophets). It carries Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) from the last of the shoftim (judges) to Shaul (Saul), the first king of Yisrael, and ends with his death. It is named for Shmuel (Samuel), the navi and the last shofet (the Gemara says Shmuel wrote it, and Gad and Natan, both nevi'im, completed it).
Chanah (Hannah), childless, prays at Shiloh for a son and gives him to Hashem. The boy Shmuel grows up in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) under Eli the kohen (priest), whose sons scorn the korbanot (offerings), and Hashem calls him to be His navi. The Pelishtim (Philistines) capture the Aron (Ark) of Hashem and Eli dies at the news, but the Aron topples Dagon and plagues the Pelishtim until they send it back. At Mitzpah Bnei Yisrael put away their idols, and Hashem defeats the Pelishtim.
In perek 8 the elders ask for a king "like all the nations," and Hashem tells Shmuel, "It is not you they have rejected, but Me." Shaul ben Kish, of Binyamin (Benjamin), is anointed, saves Yavesh Gilad from Ammon, and is confirmed as king at Gilgal. He offers a korban without waiting for Shmuel, and in perek 15 he spares Agag, king of Amalek, and the best of the flocks. Shmuel tells him that obeying Hashem is better than a korban, and that Hashem has torn the kingdom from him.
In perek 16 Shmuel anoints David, the youngest son of Yishai (Jesse) of Beit Lechem (Bethlehem). David kills Golyat (Goliath) and wins the love of Shaul's son Yonatan (Jonathan), while Shaul's jealousy turns into a hunt. Twice, at Ein Gedi and in the wilderness of Zif, David has Shaul in his hand and will not harm "the anointed of Hashem." Shmuel dies, and David takes refuge with Achish king of Gat.
In the end Hashem no longer answers Shaul. He seeks out the baalat ov (the woman who conjures the dead) at Ein Dor, and then he and three of his sons, Yonatan among them, fall to the Pelishtim on Har Gilboa. Shmuel Alef has thirty-one perakim; four of its passages are haftarot: 1:1–2:10 on the first day of Rosh Hashana, 11:14–12:22 for Parshat Korach, 15:2–34 for Parshat Zachor, and 20:18–42 on Shabbat Machar Chodesh.