Eli Rebukes His Sons

²² Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ^(A)were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. ²⁵ If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ^(B)for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel ^(C)continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

²⁷ And there came ^(D)a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(E)‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? ^28 (F)Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ^(G)to wear an ephod before me? ^(H)I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then do you ^(I)scorn^[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ^(J)‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ ^(K)but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(L)the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² Then ^(M)in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ^(N)and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^{[d] 34 (O)}And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ^(P)on the same day. ^35 (Q)And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ^(R)And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ^(S)my anointed forever. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

Released from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brothers^[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.^{[b] 3} Accordingly, ^(B)she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

⁴ Likewise, my brothers, ^(C)you also have died ^(D)to the law ^(E)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^(F)in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^(G)in our members ^(H)to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^(I)new way of ^(J)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.^[c]

The Law and Sin

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(K)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(L)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(M)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(N)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(O)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(P)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(Q)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So ^(R)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(S)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(T)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(U)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(V)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(W)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (X)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(Y)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(Z)I delight in the law of God, ^(AA)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(AB)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(AC)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 ^(A)Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. ^(B)And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

² At that time Eli, ^(C)whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. ^3 (D)The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down ^(E)in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” ⁵ and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel ^(F)at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli ^(G)all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ^13 (H)And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, ^(I)because his sons were blaspheming God,^{[a] (J)}and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli ^(K)that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. ^(L)May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, ^(M)“It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”

^19 (N)And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him ^(O)and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel ^(P)from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel ^(Q)at Shiloh ^(R)by the word of the Lord.

Jesus Presented at the Temple

²² And ^(A)when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem ^(B)to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in ^(C)the Law of the Lord, ^(D)“Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in ^(E)the Law of the Lord, ^(F)“a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was ^(G)righteous and ^(H)devout, ^(I)waiting for ^(J)the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not ^(K)see death before he had seen ^(L)the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when ^(M)the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and ^(N)blessed God and said,

³³ And ^(W)his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed ^(X)for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign ^(Y)that is opposed ³⁵ (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶ And there was ^(Z)a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, ³⁷ and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.^[b] She did not depart from the temple, ^(AA)worshiping with ^(AB)fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were ^(AC)waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Return to Nazareth

³⁹ And when they had performed everything according to ^(AD)the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of ^(AE)Nazareth. ^40 (AF)And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now ^(AG)his parents went ^(AH)to Jerusalem every year at ^(AI)the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, ^(AJ)they went up according to custom. ⁴³ And when the feast ^(AK)was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. ^(AL)His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, ^(AM)sitting among ^(AN)the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ And when his parents^[c] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, ^(AO)your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” ⁴⁹ And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that ^(AP)I must be in ^(AQ)my Father's house?”^{[d] 50} And ^(AR)they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹ And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And ^(AS)his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus ^(AT)increased in wisdom and in stature^[e] and in ^(AU)favor with God and man.