1 Samuel 2

Hannah’s Prayer of Praise

1Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!

The Lord has made me strong.#2:1 Hebrew has exalted my horn.

Now I have an answer for my enemies;

I rejoice because you rescued me.

2No one is holy like the Lord!

There is no one besides you;

there is no Rock like our God.

3“Stop acting so proud and haughty!

Don’t speak with such arrogance!

For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;

he will judge your actions.

4The bow of the mighty is now broken,

and those who stumbled are now strong.

5Those who were well fed are now starving,

and those who were starving are now full.

The childless woman now has seven children,

and the woman with many children wastes away.

6The Lord gives both death and life;

he brings some down to the grave#2:6 Hebrew to Sheol. but raises others up.

7The Lord makes some poor and others rich;

he brings some down and lifts others up.

8He lifts the poor from the dust

and the needy from the garbage dump.

He sets them among princes,

placing them in seats of honor.

For all the earth is the Lord’s,

and he has set the world in order.

9“He will protect his faithful ones,

but the wicked will disappear in darkness.

No one will succeed by strength alone.

10Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.

He thunders against them from heaven;

the Lord judges throughout the earth.

He gives power to his king;

he increases the strength#2:10 Hebrew he exalts the horn. of his anointed one.”

11Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

12Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord 13or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, 14the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. 15Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

16The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” 17So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt.

18But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.#2:18 Hebrew He wore a linen ephod. 19Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. 20Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.#2:20 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads this one he requested of the Lord.” 21And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

22Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.#2:22 Hebrew Tent of Meeting. Some manuscripts lack this entire sentence. 23Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? 24You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the Lord’s people are not good. 25If someone sins against another person, God#2:25 Or the judges. can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death.

26Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the Lord and with the people.

A Warning for Eli’s Family

27One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord: “I revealed myself#2:27 As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads Did I reveal myself. to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. 28I chose your ancestor Aaron#2:28a Hebrew your father. from among all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest#2:28b Hebrew an ephod. as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests. 29So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me—for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!

30“Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi#2:30 Hebrew that your house and your father’s house. would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me. 31The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age. 32You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days. 33The few not cut off from serving at my altar will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break, and their children will die a violent death.#2:33 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version, which read die by the sword; Masoretic Text reads die like mortals. 34And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day!

35“Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I desire. I will establish his family, and they will be priests to my anointed kings forever. 36Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.’”

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1 Samuel 2: NLT

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1 Samuel 2

1And Hannah prayed, and said,

My heart rejoiceth in the LORD,

Mine horn is exalted in the LORD:

My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;

Because I rejoice in thy salvation.

2 There is none holy as the LORD:

For there is none beside thee:

Neither is there any rock like our God.

3Talk no more so exceeding proudly;

Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

For the LORD is a God of knowledge,

And by him actions are weighed.

4The bows of the mighty men are broken,

And they that stumbled are girded with strength.

5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;

And they that were hungry ceased:

So that the barren hath born seven;

And she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

6The LORD killeth, and maketh alive:

He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

7The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich:

He bringeth low, and lifteth up.

8He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,

And lifteth 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 hath set the world upon them.

9He will keep the feet of his saints,

And the wicked shall be silent in darkness;

For by strength shall no man prevail.

10The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;

Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:

The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth;

And he shall give strength unto his king,

And exalt the horn of his anointed.

11And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.

The Sons of Eli

12Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. 13And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; 14and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. 15Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. 16And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. 17Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.

Samuel and Eli

18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. 21And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

22Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 23And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. 24Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD's people to transgress. 25If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. 26And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.

27And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 28And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? 29Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. 32And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. 33And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. 34And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. 35And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever. 36And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

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