1 Samuel 2:12-26

Good News Translation

The Sons of Eli

¹² The sons of Eli were scoundrels. They paid no attention to the Lord ¹³ or to the regulations concerning what the priests could demand from the people. Instead, when someone was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fork. While the meat was still cooking, ¹⁴ he would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever the fork brought out belonged to the priest. All the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices were treated like this. ¹⁵ In addition, even before the fat was taken off and burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the one offering the sacrifice, “Give me some meat for the priest to roast; he won't accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat.”

¹⁶ If the person answered, “Let us do what is right and burn the fat first; then take what you want,” the priest's servant would say, “No! Give it to me now! If you don't, I will have to take it by force!”

¹⁷ This sin of the sons of Eli was extremely serious in the Lord's sight, because they treated the offerings to the Lord with such disrespect.

Samuel at Shiloh

¹⁸ In the meantime the boy Samuel continued to serve the Lord, wearing a sacred linen apron. ¹⁹ Each year his mother would make a little robe and take it to him when she accompanied her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say to Elkanah, “May the Lord give you other children by this woman to take the place of the one you dedicated to him.”

After that they would go back home.

²¹ The Lord did bless Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord.

Eli and His Sons

²² Eli was now very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to the Israelites and that they were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tent of the Lord's presence. ²³ So he said to them, “Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing. ²⁴ Stop it, my sons! This is an awful thing the people of the Lord are talking about! ²⁵ If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend the one who is wrong; but who can defend someone who sins against the Lord?”

But they would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.

^26 (A)The boy Samuel continued to grow and to gain favor both with the Lord and with people.