1 Samuel 2:12–4:1
12 Now the sons of Eli were ⌊worthless scoundrels⌋;j they did not knowk Yahweh. 13 And the custom of the priests with the people was this: When any man ⌊brought a sacrifice⌋,l as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand 14 and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh. 15 Also, before they ⌊offered up⌋m the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only ⌊raw⌋.”n 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat completely ⌊first⌋,o then take for yourself as ⌊you⌋p desire,” then he would say to him, “No!q Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!” 17 So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.
Samuel’s Life in the Tabernacle
18 Now Samuel was serving before Yahweh, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him ⌊year by year⌋r whenever she came up with her husband to offer the ⌊annual sacrifice⌋.s 20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and he said, “May Yahweh give you an offspring from this woman in place of the petitioned one that she requested from Yahweh.” Then they went to their home. 21 Yahweh took note of Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, while the young man Samuel grew up with Yahweh.
22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they were having sexual relations with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of assembly.t 23 And he asked them, “Why are you doing all these things that I am hearing, namely, your evil dealings with all these people? 24 No, my sons, the report is not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading. 25 If a man sins against a man, then God can intercede for him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?” But they did not ⌊obey⌋u their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them. 26 But the boy Samuel ⌊continued to grow in stature and in favor⌋v with Yahweh and with the people.
27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your ancestorw when they were in Egypt under the house of Pharaoh? 28 And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to bear an ephod before me. I gave to the house of your ancestorx all the offerings made by fire by the ⌊Israelites⌋.y 29 Why do you despise my sacrifice and my offering which I commanded for my dwelling place, while you honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel? 30 Therefore,’ ⌊declares⌋z Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestora would walk before me forever, but now,’ ⌊declares⌋b Yahweh, ‘far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt! 31 Look, days are coming when I will cut off your ⌊strength⌋c and the ⌊strength⌋d of the house of your ancestore ⌊so that no one in your house will live to old age⌋.f 32 You will look at the distress of my dwelling place, despite all the good caused for Israel, but there will never be an old man in your household ⌊forever⌋!g 33 The only one I will not cut off from my altar is you.h Rather, to cause your eyes to fail and to cause your soul to grieve, ⌊all the members of your household⌋i will die as men.j 34 This is the sign for you that will come regarding your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: they will both die on the same day! 35 But I will raise up for myself a reliablek priest; he will do just according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build for him a lastingl house and he will walk continually before my anointed one ⌊forever⌋.m 36 All the remainder of your household will come to bow down ⌊before⌋n him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, “Please assign me to one of the ⌊priestly offices⌋o so that I can eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”
Samuel’s First Encounter with Yahweh
3 Now the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh ⌊in the presence⌋a of Eli. The word of Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2 ⌊And then⌋b one day when Eli was lying in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak so that he was not able to see) 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying in the templec of Yahweh where the ark of God was. 4 Then Yahweh called out to Samuel and he said, “Here I am!” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” But he said, “I did not call you. Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 And Yahweh called Samuel again, so Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” And he said, “I did not call you, my son. Go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Again Yahweh called Samuel a third time, so he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” Then Eli realized that Yahweh was calling the boy. 9 So Eli said to Samuel “Go lie down. ⌊If he calls⌋d to you, then you must say, ‘Speak Yahweh, because your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Then Yahweh came and stood there and called out ⌊as before⌋,e “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.” 11 So Yahweh said to Samuel, “Look, I am doing something in Israel ⌊which will cause⌋f the two ears of everyone who hears it to tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken against his household, ⌊from beginning to end⌋.g 13 I will make him know that I am about to judge his household forever because of the iniquity that he knew, for his sons were bringing curses on themselves,h but he did not rebuke them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be atoned fori by sacrifice or by offering forever.”
15 So Samuel lay down until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, but Samuel was afraid of telling the vision to Eli. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And he said, “What is the messagej that he spoke to you? Please do not conceal it from me. May God ⌊punish you severely⌋k if you conceal anything from me of all the words that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him all the words and did not conceal anything from him. And hel said, “He is Yahweh, he will do ⌊what is⌋m good in his ⌊sight⌋.”n
19 And Samuel grew up, and Yahweh was with him. ⌊He did not allow any of his prophecies to go unfulfilled⌋.o 20 All Israel from Dan to Beersheba realized that Samuel was faithfulp as a prophet to Yahweh. 21 And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh, for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of Yahweh.
4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.