FIRST SAMUEL

 

1 Samuel Chapter 2

1 ¶ And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoices in the LORD, my strength is lifted up in the LORD: my mouth is opened wide over my enemies; because I rejoice in your salvation.

2 There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you: there is no rock like our God.

3 No longer talk so proudly; do not let arrogance come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for food; and those who were hungry have ceased to hunger: so that the barren has borne seven; and she who has many children is forlorn.

6 The LORD kills, and makes alive: he brings down to the grave, and brings up.

7 The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up.

8 He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he has set the world upon them.

9 He will guard the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder out of heaven: the LORD will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

11 ¶ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.

12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they did not know the LORD.

13 And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a three pronged fleshhook in his hand;

14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. That is the way they dealt with all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

15 Also before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would say to the man who offered the sacrifice, Give the priest meat to roast; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.

16 And if any man said to him, Let them burn the fat first, and then you may take as much as you desire; he would say, No; give it to me now: or I will take it by force.

17 Therefore the sin of the two young men was very great before the LORD: for they showed contempt for the offering of the LORD.

18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, as a child, girded with a linen ephod.

19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought one to him each year, when she came with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, May the LORD give you children from this woman because of the child which is lent to the LORD. And they went to their own home.

21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did to Israel; and how they lay with the women who congregated at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

23 And he said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people.

24 Nay, my sons; for what I hear is not a good report: you cause the LORD’S people to sin.

25 If one man sins against another, the judge will judge him: but if a man sins against the LORD, who shall intercede for him? Nevertheless they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD wanted to slay them.

26 But the boy Samuel grew, and was in favor with both the LORD, and with men.

27 ¶ Then a man of God came to Eli, and said to him, This is what the LORD says, I plainly revealed myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house.

28 And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me. And I gave to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel.

29 Why then do you trample on my sacrifices and my offerings, which I have required in my house; and honor your sons above me, by making yourselves fat on the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel?

30 Therefore the LORD God of Israel says, Although I said that your family, and the house of your father, would walk before me forever: the LORD now says, Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

31 Behold, the time is coming, when I will cut off your strength, and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

32 And you will see distress in my house, even in all the prosperity which God will give Israel: and there will not be an old man in your house forever.

33 And the man of you, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, will be spared to weep out his eyes, and to grieve his heart: for all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age.

34 And what befalls your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you,; in one day both of them shall die.

35 And I will raise up a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind: and I will build him a lasting house; and he will walk before my anointed forever.

36 And it shall come to pass, that every one who is left in your house will come crouching to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and will say, I beg you, put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may have a piece of bread.