²⁷ So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the prophecy the Lord had given at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.

A Warning for Eli’s Family

²⁷ One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord: “I revealed myself^[a] to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. ²⁸ I chose your ancestor Aaron^[b] from among all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest^[c] as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests. ²⁹ So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me—for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!

³⁰ “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi^[d] would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me. ³¹ The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age. ³² You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days. ³³ The few not cut off from serving at my altar will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break, and their children will die a violent death.^{[e] 34} And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day!

³⁵ “Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I desire. I will establish his family, and they will be priests to my anointed kings forever. ³⁶ Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.’”

¹² I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God^[a] and he hasn’t disciplined them. ¹⁴ So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.”

¹² “‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. ¹³ While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. ¹⁴ So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

³⁶ These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[a] 37} and “They will look on the one they pierced.”^[b]