Hannah’s Song of Thanksgiving

2 Then Hannah ^(A)prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went to his home at ^(AD)Ramah. ^(AE)But the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.

The Sin of Eli’s Sons

¹² Now the sons of Eli were ^[f](AF)worthless men; they did not know the Lord ^13 (AG)and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵ Also, before ^(AH)they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “They must surely ^[g]burn the fat ^[h]first, and then take as much as ^[i]you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men ^(AI)despised the offering of the Lord.

Samuel before the Lord as a Boy

¹⁸ Now ^(AJ)Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy ^[j](AK)wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother would make him a little ^(AL)robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer ^(AM)the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would ^(AN)bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you ^[k]children from this woman in place of ^[l]the one she ^(AO)dedicated to the Lord.” And they went to their own ^[m]home.

^21 (AP)The Lord visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And ^(AQ)the boy Samuel grew before the Lord.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

²² Now Eli was very old; and he heard ^(AR)all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with ^(AS)the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? ²⁴ No, my sons; for the report is not good ^(AT)which I hear ^[n]the Lord’s people circulating. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, ^(AU)God will mediate for him; but ^(AV)if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the ^(AW)Lord desired to put them to death.

²⁶ Now the boy ^(AX)Samuel ^[o]was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ Then ^(AY)a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘^(AZ)Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ^28 (BA)Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not ^(BB)give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? ²⁹ Why do you ^(BC)kick at My sacrifice and at My offering ^(BD)which I have commanded in My ^(BE)dwelling, and ^(BF)honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the ^[p]choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘^(BG)I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for ^(BH)those who honor Me I will honor, and those ^(BI)who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(BJ)the days are coming when I will break your ^[q]strength and the ^[r]strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² You will see ^(BK)the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that ^[s]I do for Israel; and an ^(BL)old man will not be in your house forever. ³³ Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar ^[t]so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die ^[u]in the prime of life. ³⁴ This will be ^(BM)the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ^(BN)on the same day both of them will die. ³⁵ But ^(BO)I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and ^(BP)I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before ^(BQ)My anointed always. ³⁶ Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a ^[v]piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, “Please ^[w]assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”

Jesus before Pilate

15 ^(A)Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^[a](B)Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. ^2 (C)Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He *answered him, “It is as you say.” ³ The chief priests began to accuse Him ^[b]harshly. ⁴ Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!” ⁵ But Jesus ^(D)made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

^6 (E)Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. ⁷ The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. ⁸ The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. ⁹ Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰ For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ^(F)to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. ¹² Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ They shouted ^[c]back, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁴ But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁵ Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ^(G)scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16 (H)The soldiers took Him away into ^(I)the ^[d]palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman ^[e](J)cohort. ¹⁷ They *dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; ¹⁸ and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ They kept beating His head with a ^[f]reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. ²⁰ After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him.

^21 (K)They *pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ^(L)Rufus), to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

^22 (M)Then they *brought Him to the place ^(N)Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³ They tried to give Him ^(O)wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. ²⁴ And they *crucified Him, and *^(P)divided up His garments among themselves, casting ^[g]lots for them to decide ^[h]what each man should take. ²⁵ It was the ^[i](Q)third hour ^[j]when they crucified Him. ²⁶ The inscription of the charge against Him ^[k]read, “^(R)THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷ They *crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. ²⁸ [^[l]And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”] ²⁹ Those passing by were ^[m]hurling abuse at Him, ^(S)wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to ^(T)destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “^(U)He saved others; ^[n]He cannot save Himself. ³² Let this Christ, ^(V)the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” ^(W)Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

^33 (X)When the ^[o](Y)sixth hour came, darkness ^[p]fell over the whole land until the ^[q](Z)ninth hour. ³⁴ At the ^(AA)ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “^(AB)Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵ When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “^[r]Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” ^37 (AC)And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. ^38 (AD)And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ^39 (AE)When the centurion, who was standing ^[s]right in front of Him, saw ^[t]the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was ^[u]the Son of God!”

^40 (AF)There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of ^[v]James ^(AG)the ^[w]Less and Joses, and ^(AH)Salome. ⁴¹ When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and ^[x](AI)minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

^42 (AJ)When evening had already come, because it was ^(AK)the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea came, a ^(AL)prominent member of the Council, who himself was ^(AM)waiting for the kingdom of God; and he ^(AN)gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. ⁴⁵ And ascertaining this from ^(AO)the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶ Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ^47 (AP)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.