1 Samuel 2

Samuel's Service and Family Blessing 1 Samuel 2:11–21

¹¹Verse 11. Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest. ¹²Verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh. ¹³Verse 13. The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; ¹⁴Verse 14. and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵Verse 15. Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”

¹⁶Verse 16. If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires”; then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷Verse 17. The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh. ¹⁸Verse 18. But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. ¹⁹Verse 19. Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

²⁰Verse 20. Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home. ²¹Verse 21. Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.

Eli's Confrontation with His Sons 1 Samuel 2:22–25

²²Verse 22. Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ²³Verse 23. He said to them, “Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. ²⁴Verse 24. No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey. ²⁵Verse 25. If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.

Prophetic Judgment Against Eli 1 Samuel 2:26–36

²⁶Verse 26. The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. ²⁷Verse 27. A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸Verse 28. Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? ²⁹Verse 29. Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

³⁰Verse 30. “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. ³¹Verse 31. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. ³²Verse 32. You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

³³Verse 33. The man of yours, whom I don’t cut off from my altar, will consume your eyes and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. ³⁴Verse 34. “‘This will be the sign to you, that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. ³⁵Verse 35. I will raise me up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever. ³⁶Verse 36. It will happen, that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”