³¹ See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family.^[a](A)

¹⁷ The king said to the guard who stood around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David; they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not raise a hand to attack the priests of the Lord.^{(A) 18} Then the king said to Doeg, “You, Doeg, turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod.^{(B) 19} Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword.

²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.^(C)

¹⁰ But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.^(A)

²¹ Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword.^{(A) 22} Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand.^{(B) 23} I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands.^{(C) 24} I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groans of one mortally wounded.^(D)

³⁵ The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king put the priest Zadok in the place of Abiathar.^(A)

²⁶ The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.”^{(A) 27} So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.^(B)

³ along with Ahijah son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, son of Phinehas son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, carrying an ephod. Now the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.^(A)

¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.^(A)

Death of Eli

¹² A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with earth upon his head.^{(B) 13} When he arrived, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.^{(C) 14} When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man came quickly and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.^{(D) 16} The man said to Eli, “I have just come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” He said, “How did it go, my son?”^{(E) 17} The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter^[a] among the troops; your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” ¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli^[b] fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.^(F)