Help Me, O Lord My God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Eli's Worthless Sons

¹² Now the sons of Eli were ^(A)worthless men. ^(B)They did not know the Lord. ¹³ The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, ¹⁴ and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵ Moreover, ^(C)before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” ¹⁶ And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ Thus the sin of the young men was very great ^(D)in the sight of the Lord, ^(E)for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

^18 (F)Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy ^(G)clothed with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year ^(H)when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman ^(I)for the petition she asked of the Lord.” So then they would return to their home.

^21 (J)Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. ^(K)And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

²² Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ^(L)were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. ²⁵ If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ^(M)for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel ^(N)continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

²⁷ And there came ^(O)a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(P)‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? ^28 (Q)Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ^(R)to wear an ephod before me? ^(S)I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then do you ^(T)scorn^[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ^(U)‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ ^(V)but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(W)the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² Then ^(X)in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ^(Y)and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^{[d] 34 (Z)}And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ^(AA)on the same day. ^35 (AB)And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ^(AC)And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ^(AD)my anointed forever. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

Divisions in the Church

3 But I, brothers,^[a] could not address you as ^(A)spiritual people, but as ^(B)people of the flesh, as ^(C)infants in Christ. ^2 (D)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^(E)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is ^(F)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For ^(G)when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” ^(H)are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? ^(I)Servants through whom you believed, ^(J)as the Lord assigned to each. ^6 (K)I planted, ^(L)Apollos watered, ^(M)but God gave the growth. ⁷ So ^(N)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^(O)will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are ^(P)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, ^(Q)God's building.

^10 (R)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled^[b] master builder I laid a ^(S)foundation, and ^(T)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a ^(U)foundation other ^(V)than that which is laid, ^(W)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ^13 (X)each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^(Y)by fire, and ^(Z)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^(AA)he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^(AB)but only as through fire.

^16 (AC)Do you not know that you^[c] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For ^(AD)God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

^18 (AE)Let no one deceive himself. ^(AF)If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For ^(AG)the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^(AH)“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰ and again, ^(AI)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ So ^(AJ)let no one boast in men. For ^(AK)all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and ^(AL)you are Christ's, and ^(AM)Christ is God's.