1 Samuel 2:10-35

101Those who contend with the Lord will be terrified; 2Against them He will thunder in the heavens, 3The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; 4And He will give strength to His king, 5And will exalt the 6horn of His anointed.”

11Then Elkanah went to his home at 7Ramah. 8But the boy continued to attend to the service of the Lord before Eli the priest.

12Now the sons of Eli were 910useless men; they did not know the Lord. 1311And this was the custom of the priests with the people: when anyone was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was cooking, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. 14And he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; everything that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. They did so in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15Also, before 12they 13burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take cooked meat from you, only raw.” 16And if the man said to him, “They must 14burn the fat 15first, then take as much as 16you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you must give it to me now; and if not, I am taking it by force!” 17And so the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men 17treated the offering of the Lord disrespectfully.

18Now 18Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy 19wearing a linen ephod. 19And his mother would make for him a little 20robe and bring it up to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer 21the yearly sacrifice. 20Then Eli would 22bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you 23children from this woman in place of the 24one she 25requested of the Lord.” And they went to their own 26home.

212728The Lord indeed visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And 29the boy Samuel grew up 30before the Lord.

22Now Eli was very old; and he heard about 31everything that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they slept with 32the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 23So he said to them, “Why are you doing such things as these, the evil things that I hear from all these people? 24No, my sons; for the report is not good 33which I hear the Lord’s people circulating. 25If one person sins against another, 34God will mediate for him; but 35if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the 36Lord desired to put them to death.

26Now the boy 37Samuel was continuing to grow and to be in favor both with the Lord and with people.

27Then 38a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘39Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 2840Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me? And did I not 41give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? 29Why are you 4243showing contempt for My sacrifice and My offering 44which I have commanded for My 45dwelling, and why are you 46honoring your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the 47choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ 30Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘48I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father was to walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me--for 49those who honor Me I will honor, and those 50who despise Me will be insignificant. 31Behold, 51the days are coming when I will eliminate your 52strength and the 53strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32And you will look at 54the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that 55I do for Israel; and there will never be an 56old man in your house. 33Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar, 57so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the 58increase of your house will die 59in the prime of life. 34And this will be 60the sign to you which will come in regard to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: 61on the same day both of them will die. 35But 62I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and My soul; and 63I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before 64My anointed always.