1 Samuel 2:12-25

12Now the sons of Eli were 12useless men; they did not know the Lord. 133And 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 4they 5burned 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 6burn the fat 7first, then take as much as 8you 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 9treated the offering of the Lord disrespectfully.

18Now 10Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy 11wearing a linen ephod. 19And his mother would make for him a little 12robe and bring it up to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer 13the yearly sacrifice. 20Then Eli would 14bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you 15children from this woman in place of the 16one she 17requested of the Lord.” And they went to their own 18home.

211920The Lord indeed visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And 21the boy Samuel grew up 22before the Lord.

22Now Eli was very old; and he heard about 23everything that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they slept with 24the 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 25which I hear the Lord’s people circulating. 25If one person sins against another, 26God will mediate for him; but 27if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the 28Lord desired to put them to death.