Prophecy against Eli’s Household

²² Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and how they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.^{(A) 23} 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 not a good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad.^{(B) 25} If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord,^[a] but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.^(C)

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.^(D)

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus the Lord has said: I revealed^[b] myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves^[c] to the house of Pharaoh.^{(E) 28} I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me, and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire^[d] from the Israelites.^{(F) 29} Why then look^[e] with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings^[f] and honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?^{(G) 30} Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me forever, 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 treated with contempt.^{(H) 31} See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family.^{[g](I) 32} No one in your family shall ever live to old age.^{(J) 33} The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his^[h] eyes and grieve his^[i] heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.^{[j] 34} The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.^{(K) 35} I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever.^{(L) 36} Everyone who is left in your family shall come and prostrate himself before him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, ‘Please put me in one of the priest’s places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.’ ”^(M)

An Analogy from Marriage

7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? ² Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband.^{(A) 3} Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she belongs to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she belongs to another man, she is not an adulteress.^(B)

⁴ In the same way, my brothers and sisters, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.^{(C) 5} For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.^{(D) 6} But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are enslaved in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code.^(E)

The Law and Sin

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

¹³ Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.

The Inner Conflict

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.^{[a] 15} I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.^{(J) 16} Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.^{(K) 19} For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, 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 what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self,^{(L) 23} but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.^{(M) 24} Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God^[b] through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.

Samuel’s Calling and Prophetic Activity

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.^(A)

² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;^{(B) 3} the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.^{(C) 4} Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!”^[a] and he said, “Here I am!”^{(D) 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 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up 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.^{(E) 8} The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up 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 is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.^{(F) 12} On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.^{(G) 13} For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,^[b] and he did not restrain them.^{(H) 14} Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”^(I)

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

¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.^{(L) 20} And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.^{(M) 21} The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.^(N)

Jesus Is Presented in the Temple

²² When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord^{(A) 23} (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”),^{(B) 24} and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.^{(C) 26} It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.^{[a](D) 27} Guided by the Spirit, Simeon^[b] came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law,^{(E) 28} Simeon^[c] took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

³³ And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed^{(I) 35} so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,^{(J) 37} then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.^{(K) 38} At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child^[d] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.^(L)

The Return to Nazareth

³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.^{(M) 40} The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.^(N)

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.^{(O) 42} And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.^{(P) 48} When his parents^[e] saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.”^{(Q) 49} He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^{[f](R) 50} But they did not understand what he said to them.^{(S) 51} Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.^(T)

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years^[g] and in divine and human favor.^(U)