1 Samuel 2:12-36

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.

26Now the boy 29Samuel was continuing to grow and to be in favor both with the Lord and with people.

27Then 30a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘31Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 2832Did 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 33give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? 29Why are you 3435showing contempt for My sacrifice and My offering 36which I have commanded for My 37dwelling, and why are you 38honoring your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the 39choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ 30Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘40I 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 41those who honor Me I will honor, and those 42who despise Me will be insignificant. 31Behold, 43the days are coming when I will eliminate your 44strength and the 45strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32And you will look at 46the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that 47I do for Israel; and there will never be an 48old man in your house. 33Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar, 49so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the 50increase of your house will die 51in the prime of life. 34And this will be 52the sign to you which will come in regard to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: 53on the same day both of them will die. 35But 54I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and My soul; and 55I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before 56My anointed always. 36And everyone who is left in your house will come to bow down to him for a 57silver coin or a loaf of bread and say, “Please 58assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”