1 is like you.
And with you we are safer
than on a high mountain.
3I can tell those proud people,
“Stop your boasting!
Nothing is hidden from the Lord,
and he judges what we do.”
4Our Lord, you break
the bows of warriors,
but you give strength
to everyone who stumbles.
5People who once
had plenty to eat
must now hire themselves out
for only a piece of bread.
But you give the hungry more
than enough to eat.
A woman did not have a child,
and you gave her seven,
but a woman who had many
was left with none.
6
Then the servant would tell them, “The priest doesn't want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!”
16Usually the people answered, “Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the Lord.”
“No,” the servant would reply. “If you don't give it to me now, I'll take it by force.”
17Eli's sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the Lord very angry.
Hannah Visits Samuel18The boy Samuel served the Lord and wore a special linen garment
19and the clothes his mother made for him. She brought new clothes every year, when she and her husband came to offer sacrifices at Shiloh.
20Eli always blessed Elkanah and his wife and said, “Samuel was born in answer to your prayers. Now you have given him to the Lord. I pray that the Lord will bless you with more children to take his place.” After Eli had blessed them, Elkanah and Hannah would return home.
21The Lord was kind to Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel grew up at the Lord's house in Shiloh.
Eli Warns His Sons22Eli was now very old, and he heard what his sons were doing to the people of Israel.
23-24“Why are you doing these awful things?” he asked them. “I've been hearing nothing but complaints about you from all of the Lord's people.
25If you harm another person, God can help make things right between the two of you. But if you commit a crime against the Lord, no one can help you!”
But the Lord had already decided to kill them. So he kept them from listening to their father.
A Prophet Speaks to Eli26 the sacrifices and offerings that are brought to me, and you've all grown fat from eating the best parts.
30I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I promised to always let your family serve me as priests, but now I tell you that I cannot do this any longer! I honor anyone who honors me, but I put a curse on anyone who hates me.
31The time will come when I will kill you and everyone else in your family. Not one of you will live to an old age.
32Your family will have a lot of trouble. I will be kind to Israel, but everyone in your family will die young.
33If I let anyone from your family be a priest, his life will be full of sadness and sorrow. But most of the men in your family will die a violent death!
341 S 4.11. To prove to you that I will do these things, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day.
35I have chosen someone else to be my priest, someone who will be faithful and obey me. I will always let his family serve as priests and help my chosen king.
36But if anyone is left from your family, he will come to my priest and beg for money or a little bread. He may even say to my priest, “Please let me be a priest, so I will at least have something to eat.”
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