²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus the Lord has said: I revealed^[a] myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves^[b] to the house of Pharaoh.^{(A) 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^[c] from the Israelites.^{(B) 29} Why then look^[d] with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings^[e] and honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?^{(C) 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.^{(D) 31} See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family.^{[f](E) 32} No one in your family shall ever live to old age.^{(F) 33} The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his^[g] eyes and grieve his^[h] heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.^{[i] 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.^{(G) 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.^(H)

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.^{(A) 16} You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles?^{(B) 17} In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.^{(C) 20} Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Concerning Self-Deception

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^{(D) 22} On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’^{(E) 23} Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’^(F)

Hearers and Doers

²⁴ “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^{(G) 25} The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”