1 Samuel 2

Hannah’s Prayer

2And Hannah ^aprayed and said:

^b“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

^cMy ¹horn is exalted in the Lord.

²I smile at my enemies,

Because I ^drejoice in Your salvation.

²“No ^eone is holy like the Lord,

For there is ^fnone besides You,

Nor is there any ^grock like our God.

³“Talk no more so very proudly;

^hLet no arrogance come from your mouth,

For the Lord is the God of ⁱknowledge;

And by Him actions are weighed.

⁴“The ^jbows of the mighty men are broken,

And those who stumbled are girded with strength.

⁵Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

And the hungry have ceased to hunger.

Even ^kthe barren has borne seven,

And ^lshe who has many children has become feeble.

⁶“The ^mLord kills and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and brings up.

⁷The Lord ⁿmakes poor and makes rich;

^oHe brings low and lifts up.

^8pHe raises the poor from the dust

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,

^qTo set them among princes

And make them inherit the throne of glory.

^r“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

And He has set the world upon them.

^9sHe will guard the feet of His saints,

But the ^twicked shall be silent in darkness.

“For by strength no man shall prevail.

¹⁰The adversaries of the Lord shall be ^ubroken in pieces;

^vFrom heaven He will thunder against them.

^wThe Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

^x“He will give ^ystrength to His king,

And ^zexalt the ³horn of His anointed.”

¹¹Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ⁴ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.

The Wicked Sons of Eli

¹²Now the sons of Eli were ^acorrupt; ^5bthey did not know the Lord. ¹³And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling. ¹⁴Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So they did in ^cShiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵Also, before they ^dburned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw.”

¹⁶And if the man said to him, “They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires,” he would then answer him, “No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

¹⁷Therefore the sin of the young men was very great ^ebefore the Lord, for men ^fabhorred ⁶the offering of the Lord.

Samuel’s Childhood Ministry

^18gBut Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, ^hwearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she ⁱcame up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰And Eli ^jwould bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “The Lord give you descendants from this woman for the ⁷loan that was ^kgiven to the Lord.” Then they would go to their own home.

²¹And the Lord ^lvisited ⁸Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel ^mgrew before the Lord.

Prophecy Against Eli’s Household

²²Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, ⁹and how they lay with ⁿthe women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ²³So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. ²⁴No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. ²⁵If one man sins against another, ^oGod ¹will judge him. But if a man ^psins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, ^qbecause the Lord desired to kill them.

²⁶And the child Samuel ^rgrew in stature, and ^sin favor both with the Lord and men.

²⁷Then a ^tman of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ^u‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸Did I not ^vchoose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And ^wdid I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? ²⁹Why do you ^xkick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My ^ydwelling place, and honor your sons more than ^zMe, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ ³⁰Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ^a‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ^b‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and ^cthose who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹Behold, ^dthe days are coming that I will cut off your ²arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³²And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be ^ean old man in your house forever. ³³But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. ³⁴Now this shall be ^fa sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: ^gin one day they shall die, both of them. ³⁵Then ^hI will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. ⁱI will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before ^jMy anointed forever. ^36kAnd it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, “Please, ³put me in one of the priestly positions, that I may eat a piece of bread.” ’ ”