Beginning

The Last Judges: Eli and Samuel^[a]

Chapter 1^[b]

Elkanah’s Pilgrimage to Shiloh. ¹ There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives. The name of one of them was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not have any children. ³ This man would travel from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts^[c] in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests there.

⁴ When Elkanah performed his sacrifice, he would give a portion of it to Peninnah his wife and a portion each to all of her sons and daughters, ⁵ but he would give a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her although the Lord had left her barren. ⁶ Her rival^[d] provoked her and made her miserable because the Lord had left her barren. ⁷ This went on year after year. Whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, she provoked her. This made her weep, and she refused to eat. ⁸ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why are you not eating? Why are you so downhearted? Am I not worth more than ten sons to you?”

Hannah’s Prayer. ⁹ Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She was greatly distressed and she prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.^{[e] 11} She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will regard the troubles of your handmaid and will remember me, and not forget your handmaid, and you will give your handmaid a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord for his entire life, and no razor^[f] will ever touch his head.”

¹² As she continued to pray to the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart so that only her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, therefore, thought that she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine!” ¹⁵ Hannah answered, “Oh no, my lord! I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking either wine or liquor. I have been pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not account your handmaid to be a daughter of Belial. I have been speaking out of the abundance of my difficulties and my grief.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. The God of Israel grant the request you have made of him.” ¹⁸ She said, “Let your handmaid find favor in your sight.” The woman then went her way and ate, and she was not downcast anymore.

¹⁹ They arose early the next morning and worshiped before the Lord. They then went their way and came to their home in Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

²⁰ The Birth of Samuel. In time it came to pass that Hannah conceived and bore a son whom she named Samuel, saying, “For I have asked the Lord for him.” ²¹ When Elkanah and his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, ²² Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will dwell there forever.” ²³ Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Do what you think is best. Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord bring his word to fulfillment.” So the woman stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.

²⁴ Samuel’s Consecration. When she had weaned him, she took him with herself along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was still young. ²⁵ After they sacrificed the bull, they brought the child to Eli. ^26 [g]She said, “Oh my lord, as my soul lives, I am the woman who stood beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted the request that I made of him. ²⁸ Therefore, I have dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

Chapter 2

^1 [h]Then Hannah prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the child ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² The Sons of Eli.^[j][k]Now Eli’s sons were sons of Belial, they had no regard for the Lord. ¹³ This is how the priests would deal with the people when anyone came to offer a sacrifice: the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ He would stick it in the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. Everything that he would bring up with the fork was for the priest. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came up to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come up to a man and say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He will not take any boiled meat from you, only raw meat.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, then you can take what you want,” he would answer him, “No! Give it to me now, or I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ The young men’s sin was very serious before the Lord, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

¹⁸ Hannah’s Family Grows. Samuel was ministering to the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.^{[l] 19} His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer their yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord grant you children from this woman in place of the one you have dedicated to the Lord.” They then went home. ²¹ The Lord was gracious to Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Young Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

²² Eli’s Warning Ignored. Now Eli was very old, and he heard about all the things that his sons were doing to the whole of Israel, how they lay with the woman who gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do these things? I have been hearing about your evil deeds from everyone. ²⁴ No, my sons! It is an evil report that I hear among the Lord’s people. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, then a judge will judge him. If a man sins against God, who will intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father’s rebuke, for the Lord wanted to put them to death.^[m]

²⁶ Meanwhile young Samuel grew in stature and favor with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ The Punishment of Eli’s Sons.^[n]Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Did I not choose him from out of all of the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give your father’s house all of the burnt offerings of the Israelites? ²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering that I have prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest of the offerings of my people Israel?

³⁰ “ ‘Therefore,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Even though I declared that you and your father’s house would minister before me forever, now, far be it from me,’ says the Lord. ‘I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be despised. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that not a single old man remains in your house. ³² You will see the distress of my dwelling in spite of all that I have given Israel. In your house there will never again be an old man. ³³ Everyone of you whom I do not cut off from my altar will be spared so that you can cry out your eyes and grieve your heart. All the descendants of your house will die in the prime of their life.

³⁴ “ ‘This will be a sign for you of what will come upon your two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas. They will both die on the same day. ³⁵ But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do what is my in heart and my mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will walk before my anointed forever. ³⁶ Whoever is left in your house will bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say, “Please place me in one of the priest’s offices so that I might have a piece of bread to eat.” ’ ”

Chapter 3

Samuel’s Call.^{[o] 1} Young Samuel ministered to the Lord under Eli. Now the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there were not many visions. ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow so weak so that he could not see well anymore, was lying down in his place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of God was kept.^{[p] 4} The Lord called out, “Samuel.” He answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, go back and lie down.” He went and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel.” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, my son, lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time. He got up and went to Samuel and said, “Here I am, you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord had called him. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So he went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Then the Lord came and stood and called out as he had the other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am going to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring. ¹² On that day I will bring against Eli all of the things that I have proclaimed against his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have told him that I would judge his household forever because of the sin about which he knew, because his sons brought a curse upon themselves and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt will never be atoned from Eli’s house by either sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until the morning, and then he opened the doors to the house of the Lord. However, he was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli, ¹⁶ but Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son,” and he answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ He said, “What is it that the Lord said to you? Please, do not hide it from me. May the Lord do it to you^[q] and even more if you hide anything from me of all those things that he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. He then said, “He is the Lord, let him do what seems best to him.”

¹⁹ Samuel the Prophet. Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba,^[r] knew that Samuel had been confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of the Lord.