1 Samuel 2:2–17

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.

5 Those 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.

7 The Lord nmakes poor and makes rich;

oHe brings low and lifts up.

8 pHe 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.

9 sHe will guard the feet of His saints,

But the twicked shall be silent in darkness.

“For by strength no man shall prevail.

10 The 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.”

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

The Wicked Sons of Eli

12 Now the sons of Eli were acorrupt; 5 bthey did not know the Lord. 13 And 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. 14 Then 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. 15 Also, 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.”

16 And 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.”

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