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1 Samuel 2
Lexham English Bible

2 Then Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in Yahweh, my strength is exalted in Yahweh; I grin[a] over my enemies, for I rejoice over your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like Yahweh, for there is no one besides you,
    and there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not increase speaking very proud[b] words!
    Let no arrogance go forth from your mouth,
    for Yahweh is a God of knowledge
    whose deeds are not weighed.[c]
4 The bows of mighty warriors are shattered,
    but those who stumble gird themselves with strength.
5 Those who were full must hire themselves out for bread,
    but those who are hungry will become fat.
As for the infertile, she will bear seven,
    but she who has many sons withers away.
6 Yahweh kills and restores alive,
    he brings down to Sheol[d] and raises up.
7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low and also exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust.
    From the ash heap he lifts up the needy,
to cause them to sit with noble people
    and to cause them to inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth belong to Yahweh
    and he has set the inhabited world on them.
9 He will guard the feet of his faithful[e] ones,
    but the wicked will be destroyed[f] in the darkness,
    because a man will not prevail by his might.
10 Yahweh will shatter[g] his adversaries;[h]
    he will thunder against them in the heavens.
    Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king
    and will exalt the might of his anointed one.

11 Then Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. Now the boy was serving Yahweh in the presence of[i] Eli the priest.

The Family of Eli the Priest

12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless scoundrels;[j] they did not know[k] Yahweh. 13 And the custom of the priests with the people was this: When any man brought a sacrifice,[l] as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand 14 and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh. 15 Also, before they offered up[m] the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only raw.”[n] 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat completely first,[o] then take for yourself as you[p] desire,” then he would say to him, “No![q] Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!” 17 So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.

Samuel’s Life in the Tabernacle

18 Now Samuel was serving before Yahweh, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him year by year[r] whenever she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.[s] 20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and he said, “May Yahweh give you an offspring from this woman in place of the petitioned one that she requested from Yahweh.” Then they went to their home. 21 Yahweh took note of Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, while the young man Samuel grew up with Yahweh.

Eli Rebukes His Evil Sons

22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they were having sexual relations with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of assembly.[t] 23 And he asked them, “Why are you doing all these things that I am hearing, namely, your evil dealings with all these people? 24 No, my sons, the report is not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading. 25 If a man sins against a man, then God can intercede for him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?” But they did not obey[u] their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them. 26 But the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor[v] with Yahweh and with the people.

Yahweh Rebukes Eli

27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your ancestor[w] when they were in Egypt under the house of Pharaoh? 28 And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to bear an ephod before me. I gave to the house of your ancestor[x] all the offerings made by fire by the Israelites.[y] 29 Why do you despise my sacrifice and my offering which I commanded for my dwelling place, while you honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel? 30 Therefore,’ declares[z] Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor[aa] would walk before me forever, but now,’ declares[ab] Yahweh, ‘far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt! 31 Look, days are coming when I will cut off your strength[ac] and the strength[ad] of the house of your ancestor[ae] so that no one in your house will live to old age.[af] 32 You will look at the distress of my dwelling place, despite all the good caused for Israel, but there will never be an old man in your household forever![ag] 33 The only one I will not cut off from my altar is you.[ah] Rather, to cause your eyes to fail and to cause your soul to grieve, all the members of your household[ai] will die as men.[aj] 34 This is the sign for you that will come regarding your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: they will both die on the same day! 35 But I will raise up for myself a reliable[ak] priest; he will do just according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build for him a lasting[al] house and he will walk continually before my anointed one forever.[am] 36 All the remainder of your household will come to bow down before[an] him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, “Please assign me to one of the priestly offices[ao] so that I can eat a morsel of bread.”’”

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 2:1 Literally “my mouth is broad”
  2. 1 Samuel 2:3 Literally “proud, proud”
  3. 1 Samuel 2:3 So Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) reads “and by him deeds are weighed”
  4. 1 Samuel 2:6 “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the underworld.
  5. 1 Samuel 2:9 Or “loyal”
  6. 1 Samuel 2:9 Or “will be silenced”
  7. 1 Samuel 2:10 Singular verb supported by Syriac, Targums, Septuagint, and Old Latin versions.
  8. 1 Samuel 2:10 The Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) has the singular “adversary”; the reading tradition (Qere) reads the plural
  9. 1 Samuel 2:11 Literally “in the face of”
  10. 1 Samuel 2:12 Literally “sons of Belial”
  11. 1 Samuel 2:12 Or “acknowledge”
  12. 1 Samuel 2:13 Literally “was sacrificing a sacrifice” and so throughout 1 & 2 Samuel
  13. 1 Samuel 2:15 Literally “caused to go up in smoke”
  14. 1 Samuel 2:15 Literally “with the life”
  15. 1 Samuel 2:16 Literally “as the day”
  16. 1 Samuel 2:16 Literally “as your soul”
  17. 1 Samuel 2:16 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  18. 1 Samuel 2:19 Literally “from days to days”
  19. 1 Samuel 2:19 Literally “the sacrifice of days”
  20. 1 Samuel 2:22 Or “meeting”
  21. 1 Samuel 2:25 Literally “listen to the voice of”
  22. 1 Samuel 2:26 Literally “was going and being great and good”
  23. 1 Samuel 2:27 Or “father,” meaning Aaron
  24. 1 Samuel 2:28 Or “father”
  25. 1 Samuel 2:28 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  26. 1 Samuel 2:30 Literally “the declaration of”
  27. 1 Samuel 2:30 Or “father”
  28. 1 Samuel 2:30 Literally “the declaration of”
  29. 1 Samuel 2:31 Literally “arm,” figurative of “strength” in the context of “descendants”
  30. 1 Samuel 2:31 Literally “arm,” figurative of “strength” in the context of “descendants”
  31. 1 Samuel 2:31 Or “father”
  32. 1 Samuel 2:31 Literally “from being old in your house”
  33. 1 Samuel 2:32 Literally “all the days”
  34. 1 Samuel 2:33 Understanding the beth preposition as a beth essentiae
  35. 1 Samuel 2:33 Literally “all the abundance of your house”
  36. 1 Samuel 2:33 Or “in their prime”; some Greek and other manuscripts supply “sword” (“will die by the sword of men”)
  37. 1 Samuel 2:35 Or “faithful”
  38. 1 Samuel 2:35 Hebrew “faithful” or “reliable”
  39. 1 Samuel 2:35 Literally “all the days”
  40. 1 Samuel 2:36 Literally “to”
  41. 1 Samuel 2:36 Literally “priesthoods”
Close NLT

1 Samuel 2
New Living Translation

Hannah’s Prayer of Praise

2 Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
    The Lord has made me strong.[a]
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
    I rejoice because you rescued me.
2 No one is holy like the Lord!
    There is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.

3 “Stop acting so proud and haughty!
    Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
    he will judge your actions.
4 The bow of the mighty is now broken,
    and those who stumbled are now strong.
5 Those who were well fed are now starving,
    and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
    and the woman with many children wastes away.
6 The Lord gives both death and life;
    he brings some down to the grave[b] but raises others up.
7 The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
    he brings some down and lifts others up.
8 He lifts the poor from the dust
    and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
    placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
    and he has set the world in order.

9 “He will protect his faithful ones,
    but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
10     Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
    the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
    he increases the strength[c] of his anointed one.”

11 Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

12 Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord 13 or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, 14 the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. 15 Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

16 The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” 17 So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt.

18 But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.[d] 19 Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. 20 Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.[e]” 21 And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

22 Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[f] 23 Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? 24 You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the Lord’s people are not good. 25 If someone sins against another person, God[g] can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death.

26 Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the Lord and with the people.

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[h] to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. 28 I chose your ancestor Aaron[i] 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[j] 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[k] 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.[l] 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.’”

Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Hebrew has exalted my horn.
  2. 2:6 Hebrew to Sheol.
  3. 2:10 Hebrew he exalts the horn.
  4. 2:18 Hebrew He wore a linen ephod.
  5. 2:20 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads this one he requested of the Lord.
  6. 2:22 Hebrew Tent of Meeting. Some manuscripts lack this entire sentence.
  7. 2:25 Or the judges.
  8. 2:27 As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads Did I reveal myself.
  9. 2:28a Hebrew your father.
  10. 2:28b Hebrew an ephod.
  11. 2:30 Hebrew that your house and your father’s house.
  12. 2:33 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version, which read die by the sword; Masoretic Text reads die like mortals.
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