Hannah’s song

2 Then Hannah prayed:

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord under Eli the priest.

Corruption of Eli’s sons

¹² Now Eli’s sons were despicable men who didn’t know the Lord. ¹³ This was how the priest was supposed to act with the people: Whenever anyone made a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s assistant would come with a three-pronged fork in hand. ¹⁴ He would thrust it into the cauldron or the pot.^[c] Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is how it was done for all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

¹⁵ But with Eli’s sons,^[d] even before the fat was burned, the priest’s assistant would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He won’t accept boiled meat from you.”^{[e] 16} If anyone said, “Let the fat be burned off first, as usual, then take whatever you like for yourself,” the assistant would reply, “No, hand it over now. If not, I’ll take it by force.” ¹⁷ The sin of these priestly assistants was very serious in the Lord’s sight because they were disrespecting the Lord’s own offering.

¹⁸ Now Samuel was serving the Lord. He was a young boy, clothed in a linen priestly vest.^{[f] 19} His mother would make a small robe for him and take it to him every year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the Lord replace^[g] the child of this woman that you gave back to the Lord.” Then they would return home. ²¹ The Lord paid attention to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the Lord’s service.

²² Eli was very old, but he heard everything his sons were doing to the Israelites, and how they had sex with the women who served at the meeting tent’s entrance. ²³ Eli said to his sons, “Why are you doing these terrible things that I’m hearing about from everybody? ²⁴ No, my sons. Don’t do this.^[h] The report I hear spreading among God’s people isn’t good. ²⁵ If someone sins against someone else, God can intercede; but if someone sins against the Lord, who will intercede then?” But they wouldn’t obey their father because the Lord wanted to kill them. ²⁶ Meanwhile, the boy Samuel kept growing up and was more and more liked by both the Lord and the people.

²⁷ Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “This is what the Lord says: I revealed myself very clearly to your father’s household when they were slaves^[i] in Egypt to the house of Pharaoh. ²⁸ I chose your father from all of Israel’s tribes to be my priest, to go up onto my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest^[j] in my presence. I also gave all of the Israelites’ food offerings to your father’s household. ²⁹ Why then do you kick my sacrifices and my offerings—the very ones I commanded for my dwelling place? Why do you respect your sons more than me, getting fat off the best parts of every offering from my people Israel? ³⁰ Because of all that, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: I had promised that your household and your father’s household would serve me forever. But now—this is what the Lord declares: I’ll do no such thing! No. I honor those who honor me, and whoever despises me will be cursed. ³¹ The days are coming soon when I will eliminate both your children^[k] and the children of your father’s household. There won’t be an old person left in your family tree. ³² You’ll see trouble in my dwelling place, though all will go well for Israel.^[l] But there will never be an old person in your family tree. ³³ One of your descendants whom I don’t eliminate from serving at my altar will cry his^[m] eyes out and be full of grief. Any descendants in your household will die by the sword.^{[n] 34} And what happens to your two sons Hophni and Phinehas will be a sign for you: they will both die on the same day. ³⁵ Then I will establish for myself a trustworthy priest who will act in accordance with my thoughts and desires. I will build a trustworthy household for him, and he will serve before my anointed one forever. ³⁶ Anyone left from your household will come and beg him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread, saying: ‘Please appoint me to some priestly duty so I can have a scrap of bread to eat.’”

God’s chest is returned

6 The Lord’s chest was in Philistine territory for seven months. ² The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners. “What should we do with the Lord’s chest?” they asked. “Tell us how we should send it back to its own home.”

³ They replied, “If you are returning the chest of Israel’s God, don’t send it back empty, but be sure to return a guilt offering to him.^[a] Then you will be healed, and it will become clear to you why God’s hand hasn’t left you alone.”

⁴ “What compensation offering should we return to him?” they asked.

The priests and diviners replied: “Five gold tumors^[b] and five gold mice,^[c] matching the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague came on all of you and your rulers. ⁵ You must make images of your tumors and the mice that have devastated the land. Honor Israel’s God. Perhaps he will lighten the weight of his hand on you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why be stubborn like the Egyptians and Pharaoh? After God had dealt harshly with them, didn’t they send the Israelites on their way? ⁷ So get a new cart ready along with two nursing cows that have never been yoked before. Harness the cows to the cart, but take any of their calves that are following back home. ⁸ Next, take the Lord’s chest and put it in the cart. Set the gold items that you are giving God as a compensation offering in a box next to the chest. Then send it on its way. ⁹ Then watch what happens: If the cart goes up the road to its own territory toward Beth-shemesh, then Israel’s God has brought this great disaster on us. If the cart goes another way, then we’ll know that it wasn’t God’s hand that struck us. It happened to us randomly.”

¹⁰ The rulers^[d] did just that. They took two nursing cows and harnessed them to the cart, penning their calves up at home. ¹¹ They put the Lord’s chest on the cart along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors.^{[e] 12} The cows went straight ahead, following the road to Beth-shemesh. They kept to one route, mooing as they went, without turning right or left. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the territory of Beth-shemesh.

¹³ Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were overjoyed at the sight. ¹⁴ The cart entered the field belonging to Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped right by a large stone. They chopped up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as an entirely burned offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites unloaded the Lord’s chest and the box that was with it that contained all the gold items, and they set them on the large stone. That very day the people of Beth-shemesh offered entirely burned offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five Philistine rulers witnessed this, they went straight back to Ekron.

¹⁷ These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a compensation offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. ¹⁸ The gold mice matched the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, from fortified cities to country villages. And the large stone^[f] they set the Lord’s chest on is a witness even now in the field that belongs to Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

¹⁹ But God struck down some of the people from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Lord’s chest. God struck seventy people,^[g] and the community grieved because the Lord had struck them so severely. ²⁰ The people of Beth-shemesh said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where can he go that is away from us here?” ²¹ They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim. “The Philistines returned the Lord’s chest!” they said. “Come down and take it back with you.”