1 Samuel 2:12-4:11

GOD’S WORD Translation

The Sins of Eli’s Sons

¹² Eli’s sons, ⌞Hophni and Phinehas,⌟ were good-for-nothing priests; they had no faith in the Lord. ¹³ Now, this was how the priests dealt with the people who were offering sacrifices: While the meat was boiling, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ Then he would stick it into the pot, kettle, cauldron, or pan. Whatever the fork brought up ⌞from the pot⌟ belonged to the priest. This is what the priests did in Shiloh to all the people of Israel who came there ⌞to sacrifice⌟. ¹⁵ But ⌞in the case of Eli’s sons,⌟ even before the people burned the fat, their servants would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the meat to the priest to roast. He doesn’t want boiled meat from you. He wants it raw.”

¹⁶ If the man said to the servant, “First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you want,” the servant would say to him, “Give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” ¹⁷ The sin of Eli’s sons was a serious matter to the Lord, because these men were treating the offerings made to the Lord with contempt.

The Faithfulness of Samuel’s Family

¹⁸ Meanwhile, Samuel continued to serve in front of the Lord. As a boy he was ⌞already⌟ wearing a linen ephod.^{[a] 19} His mother would make him a robe and bring it to him every year when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah (and his wife) and say, “May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one which she has given to the Lord.” Then they would go home.

²¹ The Lord came to Hannah. She became pregnant ⌞five times⌟ and had three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in front of the Lord.

Eli’s Family Condemned

²² Now, Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they were sleeping with the women who served at the gate of the tent of meeting. ²³ So he asked them, “Why are you doing such things? I hear about your wicked ways from all these people. ²⁴ Sons, the report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading isn’t good! ²⁵ If one person sins against another, God will take care of him. However, when a person sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?” But they wouldn’t listen to their father’s warning—the Lord wanted to kill them.

²⁶ The boy Samuel continued to grow and gained the favor of the Lord and the people.

²⁷ Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: I revealed myself to your ancestors when they were under Pharaoh’s control in Egypt. ²⁸ I chose ⌞one of your ancestors⌟ out of all the tribes of Israel to serve as my priest, to sacrifice burnt offerings on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod in my presence. And I gave your ancestors the right to keep portions of the sacrifices that the people of Israel burned on the altar. ²⁹ Why do you show no respect for my sacrifices and grain offerings that I have commanded people to make in my dwelling place? Why do you honor your sons more than me by making yourselves fat on the best of all the sacrifices offered by my people Israel?

³⁰ “Therefore, the Lord God of Israel declares: I certainly thought that your family and your father’s family would always live in my presence.

“But now the Lord declares: I promise that I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be considered insignificant. ³¹ The time is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that no one will grow old in your family. ³² You will see distress in my dwelling place. In spite of the good that I do for Israel, no one in your family will live to an old age. ³³ Any man in your family whom I do not remove from my altar will have his eyes fail, and he ^[b] will be heartbroken. And all your descendants will die in the prime of life. ³⁴ What is going to happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you: Both of them will die on the same day. ³⁵ Then I will appoint a faithful priest to serve me. He will do everything I want him to do. I will give him faithful descendants, and he will always live as my anointed one. ³⁶ Then anyone who is left from your household will bow down in front of him to get a coin or a loaf of bread and say, ‘Please appoint me to one of the priestly classes so that I may eat a piece of bread.’ ”

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel was serving the Lord under Eli. In those days a prophecy from the Lord was rare; visions were infrequent. ² One night Eli was lying down in his room. His eyesight had begun to fail so that he couldn’t see well. ³ The lamp in God’s temple ^[c] hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was asleep in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was kept.

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel. “Here I am,” Samuel responded. ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

“I didn’t call ⌞you⌟,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So Samuel went back and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called Samuel again. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

“I didn’t call ⌞you⌟, son,” he responded. “Go back to bed.” ⁷ Samuel had no experience with the Lord, because the Lord’s word had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ “Go, lie down,” Eli told Samuel. “When he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I’m listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his room.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there. He called as he had called the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak. I’m listening.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am going to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring. ¹² On that day I am going to do to Eli and his family everything I said from beginning to end. ¹³ I told him that I would hand down a permanent judgment against his household because he knew about his sons’ sin—that they were cursing God ^[d]—but he didn’t try to stop them. ¹⁴ That is why I have taken an oath concerning Eli’s family line: No offering or sacrifice will ever ⌞be able to⌟ make peace for the sins that Eli’s family committed.”

¹⁵ Samuel remained in bed until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel. “Samuel, my son!” he said.

“Here I am,” he responded.

¹⁷ “What did the Lord tell you?” he asked. “Please don’t hide anything from me. May God strike you dead if you hide anything he told you from me.”

¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything.

Eli replied, “He is the Lord. May he do what he thinks is right.”

¹⁹ Samuel grew up. The Lord was with him and didn’t let any of his words go unfulfilled. ²⁰ All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew Samuel was the Lord’s appointed prophet. ²¹ The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, since the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the Lord’s word. And Samuel spoke to all Israel.^[e]

The Army Sends for the Ark

4 Israel went to fight against the Philistines and camped near Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek. ² The Philistines organized their troops to meet Israel in battle. As the battle spread, the Philistines defeated Israel and killed about 4,000 soldiers in the field.

³ When the troops came back to the camp, the leaders of Israel asked, “Why has the Lord used the Philistines to defeat us today? Let’s get the ark of the Lord’s promise from Shiloh so that he may be with us and save us from our enemies.” ⁴ The troops sent some men who brought back the ark of the promise of the Lord of Armies—who is enthroned over the angels.^[f] Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with God’s ark. ⁵ When the Lord’s ark came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth rang with echoes.

⁶ As the Philistines heard the noise, they asked, “What’s ⌞all⌟ this shouting in the Hebrew camp?” The Philistines found out that the Lord’s ark had come into the camp. ⁷ Then they were frightened and said, “A god has come into ⌞their⌟ camp.” They also said, “Oh no! Nothing like this has ever happened before. ⁸ We’re in trouble now! Who can save us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the desert. ⁹ Be strong, Philistines, and act like men, or else you will serve the Hebrews as they served you. Act like men and fight.”

The Ark Captured

¹⁰ The Philistines fought and defeated Israel. Every ⌞Israelite⌟ soldier fled to his tent. It was a major defeat in which 30,000 Israelite foot soldiers died. ¹¹ The ark of God was captured. Both of Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.