1 Samuel 2:12-17
New English Translation
12 But the sons of Eli were wicked men.[a] They did not acknowledge the Lord’s authority.[b] 13 This was the priests’ routine with the people. Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice,[c] the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork[d] in his hand, just as the meat was boiling. 14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, cauldron, or pot. Everything that the fork would bring up the priest would take for himself. This is how they used to treat all the Israelites[e] who came there[f] to Shiloh.
15 Also, before they burned the fat the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Give some meat for the priest to roast! He[g] won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”[h] 16 If[i] the individual said to him, “They should certainly burn[j] the fat away first, then take for yourself[k] whatever you wish,”[l] then he would say, “No![m] Give it now! If not, I’ll take it by force!”[n] 17 The sin of these young men[o] was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they[p] treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.
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- 1 Samuel 2:12 tn Heb “sons of worthlessness.”
- 1 Samuel 2:12 tn Heb “they did not know the Lord.” The verb here has the semantic nuance “acknowledge [the authority of].” Eli’s sons obviously knew who the Lord was; they served in his sanctuary. But they did not acknowledge his moral authority.
- 1 Samuel 2:13 tc The LXX reads “As to the right of the priests from the people, [from] anyone sacrificing.”
- 1 Samuel 2:13 sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.
- 1 Samuel 2:14 tn Heb “everyone of Israel.”
- 1 Samuel 2:14 tc The LXX reads “who came to sacrifice at Shiloh.”
- 1 Samuel 2:15 tc LXX “I.”
- 1 Samuel 2:15 tn Heb “living.”
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tn The Hebrew has a preterite verb, normally “and then he said.” In this case it gives the next event in a sequence that is modal and describes something typical in past time. Most English translations add “if” because this is a possible and common scenario rather than a specific incident only.
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tc The construction is a Piel infinitive absolute followed by a Hiphil imperfect, the only case of such syntax. Normally the infinitive absolute agrees with the verbal stem of the main verb, or sometimes is Qal when the main verb is not. The LXX renders in the passive voice, “the fat should be burned,” probably interpreting the consonants of these verbs as Pual forms.
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tc The LXX adds “from any.”
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tn Heb “whatever your soul desires.”
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the MT’s Kethib, which reads “to him.”
- 1 Samuel 2:16 tc The Qumran text, 4QSama, reads “you must give and I will take by force.” 4QSama continues with a text similar to vss 13-14, in which the priest’s servant describes stabbing the trident into the pot to take whatever would come up. Either this repetition was original and the MT and LXX eliminated the redundancy, or the tradition behind the Qumran scroll may have read these elements in a different order than the MT and LXX and then added the material to the earlier location (matching the MT and LXX) resulting in the repetition. See Graeme Auld, I & II Samuel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011) 44-45.
- 1 Samuel 2:17 tn The term נַעַר (naʿar), here translated “young men,” often refers to a servant or apprentice in line for a position of authority. The same term describes Samuel in vs 11 and 18. The repetition helps establish the contrast between Samuel and Eli’s sons.
- 1 Samuel 2:17 tc Heb “the men,” which is absent from one medieval Hebrew ms, a Qumran ms, and the LXX.
1 Samuel 2:12-17
World English Bible
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; 14 and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”
16 If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised Yahweh’s offering.
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