1 Samuel 2:12-4:1

Living Bible

¹² Now the sons of Eli were evil men who didn’t love the Lord. ^13-14 It was their regular practice to send out a servant whenever anyone was offering a sacrifice, and while the flesh of the sacrificed animal was boiling, the servant would put a three-pronged flesh hook into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. They treated all of the Israelites in this way when they came to Shiloh to worship. ¹⁵ Sometimes the servant would come even before the rite of burning the fat on the altar had been performed, and he would demand raw meat before it was boiled, so that it could be used for roasting.

¹⁶ If the man offering the sacrifice replied, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must first be burned as the law requires,^[a]” then the servant would say, “No, give it to me now or I’ll take it by force.”

¹⁷ So the sin of these young men was very great in the eyes of the Lord; for they treated the people’s offerings to the Lord with contempt.

¹⁸ Samuel, though only a child, was the Lord’s helper and wore a little linen robe just like the priest’s.^{[b] 19} Each year his mother made a little 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 Hannah and ask God to give them other children to take the place of this one they had given to the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord.

²² Eli was now very old, but he was aware of what was going on around him. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

^23-25 “I have been hearing terrible reports from the Lord’s people about what you are doing,” Eli told his sons. “It is an awful thing to make the Lord’s people sin. Ordinary sin receives heavy punishment, but how much more this sin of yours that has been committed against the Lord!” But they wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to kill them.

²⁶ Little Samuel was growing in two ways—he was getting taller, and he was becoming everyone’s favorite (and he was a favorite of the Lord’s, too!).

²⁷ One day a prophet^[c] came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord: “Didn’t I demonstrate my power when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt? ²⁸ Didn’t I choose your ancestor Levi from among all his brothers to be my priest, and to sacrifice upon my altar, and to burn incense, and to wear a priestly robe^[d] as he served me? And didn’t I assign the sacrificial offerings to you priests? ²⁹ Then why are you so greedy for all the other offerings which are brought to me? Why have you honored your sons more than me—for you and they have become fat from the best of the offerings of my people!

³⁰ “Therefore, I, the Lord God of Israel, declare that although I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi could always be my priests, it is ridiculous to think that what you are doing can continue. I will honor only those who honor me, and I will despise those who despise me. ³¹ I will put an end to your family, so that it will no longer serve as priests. Every member will die before his time. None shall live to be old. ³² You will envy the prosperity I will give my people, but you and your family will be in distress and need. Not one of them will live out his days. ³³ Those who are left alive will live in sadness and grief; and their children shall die by the sword. 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 whatever I tell him to do. I will bless his descendants, and his family shall be priests to my kings forever. ³⁶ Then all of your descendants shall bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give me a job among the priests so that I will have enough to eat.’”

3 Meanwhile little Samuel was helping the Lord by assisting Eli. Messages from the Lord were very rare in those days, ^2-3 but one night after Eli had gone to bed (he was almost blind with age by now), and Samuel was sleeping in the Temple near the Ark, ^4-5 the Lord called out, “Samuel! Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He jumped up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. What do you want?” he asked.

“I didn’t call you,” Eli said. “Go on back to bed.” So he did. ⁶ Then the Lord called again, “Samuel!” And again Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli.

“Yes?” he asked. “What do you need?”

“No, I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go on back to bed.”

⁷ (Samuel had never had a message from Jehovah before.^[e]) ⁸ So now the Lord called the third time, and once more Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli.

“Yes?” he asked. “What do you need?”

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who had spoken to the child. ⁹ So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if he calls again, say, ‘Yes, Lord, I’m listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

¹⁰ And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Yes, I’m listening.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am going to do a shocking thing in Israel. ¹² I am going to do all of the dreadful things I warned Eli about. ¹³ I have continually threatened him and his entire family with punishment because his sons are blaspheming God, and he doesn’t stop them. ¹⁴ So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and of his sons shall never be forgiven by sacrifices and offerings.”

¹⁵ Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then opened the doors of the Temple as usual, for he was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. ^16-17 But Eli called him.

“My son,” he said, “what did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything. And may God punish you if you hide anything from me!”

¹⁸ So Samuel told him what the Lord had said.

“It is the Lord’s will,” Eli replied; “let him do what he thinks best.”

¹⁹ As Samuel grew, the Lord was with him and people listened carefully to his advice. ²⁰ And all Israel from one end of the land to the other knew that Samuel was going to be a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ Then the Lord began to give messages to him there at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, 4 ¹ and he passed them on to the people of Israel.

At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israeli army was camped near Ebenezer, the Philistines at Aphek.