1 Samuel 2:18-36

English Standard Version

^18 (A)Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy ^(B)clothed with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year ^(C)when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman ^(D)for the petition she asked of the Lord.” So then they would return to their home.

^21 (E)Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. ^(F)And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

²² Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ^(G)were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. ²⁵ If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ^(H)for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel ^(I)continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

²⁷ And there came ^(J)a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(K)‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? ^28 (L)Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ^(M)to wear an ephod before me? ^(N)I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then do you ^(O)scorn^[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ^(P)‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ ^(Q)but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(R)the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² Then ^(S)in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ^(T)and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^{[d] 34 (U)}And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ^(V)on the same day. ^35 (W)And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ^(X)And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ^(Y)my anointed forever. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”