1 Samuel 2:10–17

¹⁰Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.

He thunders against them from heaven;

the Lord judges throughout the earth.

He gives power to his king;

he increases the strength of his anointed one.”

¹¹Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

¹²Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord ¹³or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, ¹⁴the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. ¹⁵Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

¹⁶The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” ¹⁷So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt.