The Daily Audio Bible

Eli and His Sons

²² Eli was now very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to the Israelites and that they were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tent of the Lord's presence. ²³ So he said to them, “Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing. ²⁴ Stop it, my sons! This is an awful thing the people of the Lord are talking about! ²⁵ If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend the one who is wrong; but who can defend someone who sins against the Lord?”

But they would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.

^26 (A)The boy Samuel continued to grow and to gain favor both with the Lord and with people.

The Prophecy against Eli's Family

²⁷ A prophet came to Eli with this message from the Lord: “When your ancestor Aaron and his family were slaves of the king of Egypt, I revealed myself to Aaron. ^28 (B)From all the tribes of Israel I chose his family to be my priests, to serve at the altar, to burn the incense, and to wear the ephod^[a] to consult me. And I gave them the right to keep a share of the sacrifices burned on the altar. ²⁹ Why, then, do you look with greed^[b] at the sacrifices and offerings which I require from my people? Why, Eli, do you honor your sons more than me by letting them fatten themselves on the best parts of all the sacrifices my people offer to me? ³⁰ I, the Lord God of Israel, promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me. ³¹ Listen, the time is coming when I will kill all the young men in your family and your clan, so that no man in your family will live to be old. ³² You will be troubled and look with envy^[c] on all the blessings I will give to the other people of Israel, but no one in your family will ever again live to old age. ³³ Yet I will keep one of your descendants alive, and he will serve me as priest. But he^[d] will become blind and lose all hope, and all your other descendants will die a violent death. ^34 (C)When your two sons Hophni and Phinehas both die on the same day, this will show you that everything I have said will come true. ³⁵ I will choose a priest who will be faithful to me and do everything I want him to. I will give him descendants, who will always serve in the presence of my chosen king. ³⁶ Any of your descendants who survive will have to go to that priest and ask him for money and food, and beg to be allowed to help the priests, in order to have something to eat.”

The Lord Appears to Samuel

3 In those days, when the boy Samuel was serving the Lord under the direction of Eli, there were very few messages from the Lord, and visions from him were quite rare. ² One night Eli, who was now almost blind, was sleeping in his own room; ³ Samuel was sleeping in the sanctuary, where the sacred Covenant Box was. Before dawn, while the lamp was still burning, ⁴ the Lord called Samuel. He answered, “Yes, sir!” ⁵ and ran to Eli and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “I didn't call you; go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.

^6-7 The Lord called Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was the Lord, because the Lord had never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “My son, I didn't call you; go back to bed.”

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

Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy, ⁹ so he said to him, “Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, and called as he had before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak; your servant is listening.”

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Some day I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. ¹² On that day I will carry out all my threats against Eli's family, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have already told him^[e] that I am going to punish his family forever because his sons have spoken evil things against me. Eli knew they were doing this, but he did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin.”

¹⁵ Samuel stayed in bed until morning; then he got up and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. ¹⁶ Eli called him, “Samuel, my boy!”

“Yes, sir,” answered Samuel.

¹⁷ “What did the Lord tell you?” Eli asked. “Don't keep anything from me. God will punish you severely if you don't tell me everything he said.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, “He is the Lord; he will do whatever seems best to him.”

¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and made come true everything that Samuel said. ²⁰ So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ The Lord continued to reveal himself at Shiloh, where he had appeared to Samuel and had spoken to him. And when Samuel spoke, all Israel listened.

The Capture of the Covenant Box

4 At that time the Philistines gathered to go to war against Israel, so^[f] the Israelites set out to fight them. The Israelites set up their camp at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. ² The Philistines attacked, and after fierce fighting they defeated the Israelites and killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³ When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us today? Let's go and bring the Lord's Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that he^[g] will go with us and save us from our enemies.” ^4 (D)So they sent messengers to Shiloh and got the Covenant Box of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures.^[h] And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with the Covenant Box.

⁵ When the Covenant Box arrived, the Israelites gave such a loud shout of joy that the earth shook. ⁶ The Philistines heard the shouting and said, “Listen to all that shouting in the Hebrew camp! What does it mean?” When they found out that the Lord's Covenant Box had arrived in the Hebrew camp, ⁷ they were afraid, and said, “A god has come into their camp! We're lost! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before! ⁸ Who can save us from those powerful gods? They are the gods who slaughtered the Egyptians in the desert! ⁹ Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men, or we will become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they were our slaves. So fight like men!”

¹⁰ The Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, who went running to their homes. There was a great slaughter: thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed. ¹¹ God's Covenant Box was captured, and Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were both killed.

The Death of Eli

¹² A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran all the way from the battlefield to Shiloh and arrived there the same day. To show his grief, he had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head. ¹³ Eli, who was very worried about the Covenant Box, was sitting in his seat beside the road, staring. The man spread the news throughout the town, and everyone cried out in fear. ¹⁴ Eli heard the noise and asked, “What is all this noise about?” The man hurried to Eli to tell him the news. (¹⁵ Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.) ¹⁶ The man said, “I have escaped from the battle and have run all the way here today.”

Eli asked him, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines; it was a terrible defeat for us! Besides that, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and God's Covenant Box was captured!”

¹⁸ When the man mentioned the Covenant Box, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck, and he died. He had been a leader in Israel for forty years.

The Death of the Widow of Phinehas

¹⁹ Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, and it was almost time for her baby to be born. When she heard that God's Covenant Box had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she suddenly went into labor and gave birth. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women helping her said to her, “Be brave! You have a son!” But she paid no attention and did not answer. ²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[i] explaining, “God's glory has left Israel”—referring to the capture of the Covenant Box and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² “God's glory has left Israel,” she said, “because God's Covenant Box has been captured.”

²⁴ “I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life. ²⁵ I am telling you the truth: the time is coming—the time has already come—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life. ²⁶ Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life. ²⁷ And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice ^29 (A)and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own authority; I judge only as God tells me, so my judgment is right, because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what he who sent me wants.

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof. ³² But there is someone else who testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true. ^33 (B)John is the one to whom you sent your messengers, and he spoke on behalf of the truth. ³⁴ It is not that I must have a human witness; I say this only in order that you may be saved. ^35 (C)John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light. ³⁶ But I have a witness on my behalf which is even greater than the witness that John gave: what I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me. ^37 (D)And the Father, who sent me, also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face, ³⁸ and you do not keep his message in your hearts, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent. ^39 (E)You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me! ⁴⁰ Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.

⁴¹ “I am not looking for human praise. ⁴² But I know what kind of people you are, and I know that you have no love for God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come with my Father's authority, but you have not received me; when, however, someone comes with his own authority, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me? ⁴⁵ Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father. Moses, in whom you have put your hope, is the very one who will accuse you. ⁴⁶ If you had really believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?”

The Lord's Goodness to His People

³⁰ Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer.

³¹ If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship.