1 Samuel 2

CHAPTER 2

Hannah’s Song of Thanksgiving

¹Then Hannah ^aprayed and said,

“My heart exults in Yahweh;

^bMy ¹horn is exalted in Yahweh;

My mouth ²speaks boldly against my enemies,

Because ^cI am glad in Your salvation.

²“^aThere is no one holy like Yahweh;

Indeed, ^bthere is no one besides You,

^cNor is there any rock like our God.

³“Do not multiply speaking so very proudly;

^aLet arrogance not come out of your mouth;

^bFor Yahweh is a God of knowledge,

^cAnd with Him actions are weighed.

⁴“^aThe bows of the mighty are shattered,

^bBut those who stumble gird on strength.

⁵“Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,

But those who were hungry cease to hunger.

^aEven the barren gives birth to seven,

But ^bshe who has many children languishes.

⁶“^aYahweh puts to death and makes alive;

^bHe brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷“^aYahweh makes poor and rich;

^bHe brings low; He also exalts.

⁸“^aHe raises the poor from the dust;

^bHe exalts the needy from the ash heap

^cTo make them sit with nobles,

And inherit a seat of glory;

^dFor the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s,

And He set the world on them.

⁹“^aHe keeps the feet of His holy ones,

^bBut the wicked ones are silenced in darkness,

^cFor not by power shall a man prevail.

¹⁰“^aThose who contend with Yahweh will be dismayed;

^bAgainst them He will thunder in the heavens;

^cYahweh will render justice to the ends of the earth,

^dAnd He will give strength to His king,

^eAnd He will exalt the ¹horn of His anointed.”

¹¹Then Elkanah went to his home at ^aRamah. ^bBut the young boy ministered to Yahweh before Eli the priest.

The Sin of Eli’s Sons

¹²Now the sons of Eli were ^1avile men; they did not know Yahweh.

^13aAnd this was the legal judgment for the priests with the people: when any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s young man would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.

¹⁴Then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot; all that the fork would bring up the priest would take for himself. Thus they would do in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

¹⁵Also, before ^athey offered up the fat in smoke, the priest’s young man would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting; he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.”

¹⁶Then the man would say to him, “They must surely offer up the fat in smoke ¹first, and then take as much as your soul desires,” then he would say, “No, you shall give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

¹⁷Thus the sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh, for the men ^aspurned the offering of Yahweh.

Samuel Before Yahweh as a Boy

¹⁸Now ^aSamuel was ministering before Yahweh, as a ¹young boy ^bgirded with a linen ephod.

¹⁹And his mother would make him a little ^arobe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer ^bthe yearly sacrifice.

²⁰Then Eli would ^abless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May Yahweh establish for you a seed from this woman in place of ¹the one she ^bdedicated to Yahweh.” And they went to their own ²home.

^21aYahweh indeed visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And ^bthe young boy Samuel grew before Yahweh.

Eli Hears About His Sons’ Evils

²²Now Eli was very old; and he heard ^aall that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with ^bthe women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

²³So he said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

²⁴“No, my sons; for the report is not good ^awhich I hear the people of Yahweh ¹passing about.

²⁵“If one man sins against another, ^aGod will mediate for him; but ^bif a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for ^cYahweh desired to put them to death.

²⁶Now the young boy ^aSamuel ¹was growing in stature and in favor both with Yahweh and with men.

Eli Honors His Sons Above Yahweh

²⁷Then ^aa man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^bDid I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt, enslaved to Pharaoh’s house?

²⁸‘^aAnd did 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 ^bgive to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?

²⁹‘Why do you ^akick at My sacrifice and at My offering ^bwhich I have commanded in My ^chabitation, and ^dhonor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the ¹choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’

³⁰“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, declares, ‘^aI did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now Yahweh declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for ^bthose who honor Me I will honor, and those ^cwho despise Me will be cursed.

³¹‘Behold, ^athe days are coming, and I will break your ¹strength and the ²strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

³²‘And you will look upon ^athe distress of My habitation, in spite of all the good that ¹I do for Israel; and an ^bold man will not be in your house all the days.

³³‘Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar ¹so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will be put to death ²in the prime of life.

³⁴‘Now this will be ^athe sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ^bon the same day both of them will be put to death.

³⁵‘But ^aI will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and ^bI will build him a faithful house, and he will walk before ^cMy anointed always.

³⁶‘And it will be that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a ¹piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, “Please ²assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.” ’ ”