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22 Eli, who had grown old and tired, heard what his sons were doing to all those Israelites who came to Shiloh to perform their sacrifices. He heard that they were even having sexual relations with the women who worked at the door of the meeting tent.
Eli (to his sons): 23 Why do you do such horrible things? The people have told me about all the evil you have done. 24 No, my sons, I do not hear good words spoken about you by the people of the Eternal. 25 If one person offends another, [at least someone can plead with the True God on the sinner’s behalf].[a] But if someone offends the Eternal One, then who will plead for that person?
But Eli’s sons did not listen to his words, for the Eternal One had already decided to destroy them.
26 The boy Samuel grew tall, wise in the ways of the Lord, and in favor with God and the people he served.
27 A man sent by the True God came to Eli.
Man: This is the message of the Eternal One: “I made Myself known to your family when Israel was enslaved under Pharaoh in Egypt. 28 I chose your ancestor Aaron from among all the tribes of Israel to be My priest: to serve at the altar, to offer incense, and to wear the priestly vest in My presence. And I repaid your family by presenting them with all the offerings made to Me by fire from all the people of Israel. 29 Why do you look with such greedy eyes on all the sacrifices and offerings I have directed the people to bring to My house? Why do you honor your sons more than you honor Me by feasting on the choicest parts of every single offering made by My people Israel?”
30 Therefore the Eternal God of Israel declares: “I promised that your family would go in and out of My presence forever. But now I surely declare, those who honor Me I will honor, but people who choose to despise Me, I, in turn, will consider contemptible: those who hate Me will not matter to Me. 31 Look, the time approaches when I will cut away your strength and the strength of your family, so that none of you will live to old age. 32 Then, in agony, you will see all the good things I do for Israel; there will be great distress, and no one in your family will live to old age ever again.
33 “Any of your family not cut off will grieve continually and will cry their eyes out. All the other members of your household will die violently in the prime of life. 34 The fate of your sons Hophni and Phinehas will be a sign of the future. Both of them will die on the very same day. 35 I will raise up a faithful priest who will do what I desire and purpose in My heart and mind. I will build him a secure house, and he will go in and out before My anointed one continually. 36 Those of your family who survive will come to him and bow down for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and they will beg him, ‘Please make me a priest so at least I can have a morsel of bread.’”
3 The boy Samuel continued to serve the Eternal One under the guidance of Eli. In those days, messages from the Eternal were rare, and sacred dreams or visions were given to very few.
2 Eli, who was very old, had become almost blind. He was lying in his room; 3 it was late at night but before dawn as the lamp of God still burned. Samuel was resting in the house of the Eternal One, where the covenant chest of the True God was located, and he heard a voice.
Eternal One: 4 Samuel! Samuel!
Samuel: Here I am! 5 (running to Eli) I heard you calling; here I am!
Eli: I did not call you, my son. Go back, and lie down.
So Samuel went back to bed. 6 But the Eternal called him again.
Eternal One: Samuel!
Samuel (running to Eli): I heard you calling; here I am!
Eli: No, I did not call you, my son. Go back, and lie down. I need my rest.
7 Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Eternal One, for the word of the Eternal had not been revealed to Samuel yet. So Samuel went back again to his bed. 8 And the Eternal One called him a third time.
Samuel (running to Eli): I know you called me; I am here!
Eli (realizing the Lord was calling Samuel): 9 Go back and lie down, my son. If the voice calls you again, I want you to say, “Speak, Eternal One. Your servant is listening.”
So Samuel went to his bed in his place and listened. 10 Then the Eternal One came into his presence as before.
Eternal One: Samuel! Samuel!
Samuel: Speak, Eternal One. Your servant is listening.
Eternal One: 11 Pay attention! I am about to do something so amazing in Israel that it will sting the ears of everyone who hears it. 12 The day is coming when I will carry out the vow I made to Eli about his family, every word of it. 13 I have told him that I will punish his house forever for the sins of his sons, bringing a curse on themselves that he knew about but did nothing to stop. 14 So I vow that the sins of the house of Eli may never be atoned for by sacrifice or by offering.
15 After hearing this message, Samuel lay there until morning and then opened the doors of the Eternal One’s house, but he was afraid to tell Eli what God had said to him.
Eli: 16 Samuel, my son.
Samuel: Here I am.
Eli: 17 What was it that He told you? Tell me everything. May the True God carry out His vengeance on you and worse, if you hold anything back from me that He said to you.
18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing.
Eli: This message is truly from the Eternal One. Let Him do what seems good to Him.
When Eli hears God’s message to Samuel, a message that surely breaks his heart, Eli knows his sons have dishonored God and deserve punishment. His willingness to honor God’s message is truly a measure of his faith. This is one of many places in the books of Samuel where we can recognize the justice of God’s plan and still share some sorrow with those who will suffer because of it.
19 As Samuel grew, the Eternal One guided him and none of His words were lost on Samuel. 20 And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, learned that Samuel was a prophet of the Eternal One and that his words could be trusted.
21 From time to time, the Eternal continued to appear at Shiloh, where He had spoken to Samuel.
4 And all of Israel was influenced by Samuel’s words.
[In those days, the Philistines warred against Israel,][b] and the warriors of Israel went out to fight them. They camped at Ebenezer while the Philistine forces made camp at Aphek. 2 The Philistines lined up against Israel; and when they advanced, they defeated Israel, killing about 4,000 of Israel’s warriors on the battlefield. 3 When the troops returned to their camp, the elders of Israel asked,
Elders: Why has the Eternal One let us be defeated by the Philistines today? Tomorrow, let us take His covenant chest from Shiloh and carry it before us into battle, so that the chest may be among us and save us from the power of the Philistines.
4 So the people sent messengers to Shiloh and brought back the covenant chest of the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, who is enthroned between the winged guardians.
The two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—accompanied the covenant chest of the True God on its journey to the battlefront. 5 When it entered the camp, the Israelites raised a shout so loud it seemed to shake the earth. 6 When the Philistines heard the noise, they wondered what the great shout from the Hebrews’ camp might mean; and when they heard that it was in response to the arrival of the covenant chest of the Eternal, 7 they shook with fear.
Philistines (among themselves): The Israelites have brought their God into their camp! We’re doomed! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before! 8 What will we do? What can save us from these powerful gods? These are the same gods who struck down the mighty Egyptians in the desert with every sort of plague.
Philistine Generals: 9 Be strong, Philistines. Stand tall like men, or you will become the slaves to these Hebrews, instead of their serving us. Be men, and fight!
10 So the Philistines stood their ground and fought and won a great victory. The people of Israel were crushed, and the soldiers fled from the field of battle back to their homes. It was a horrible slaughter, with the Israelites losing 30,000 foot soldiers.
11 But more importantly, they lost the covenant chest of the True God. The Philistines captured the chest, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.
12 A Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and arrived in Shiloh that same day. He was in mourning—his clothes torn and dust heaped on his head. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his place of honor next to the city gate waiting anxiously for the covenant chest of God. When the man came into the city and told his news, the entire city cried out in grief. 14 But Eli, who could not see the messenger’s clothing, wondered at the meaning of the cries.
Eli: What is that noise?
The man hurried to Eli and told him what had happened. 15 Eli was by this time 98 years old and blind.
Benjaminite Messenger: 16 I have just come from the battle. I fled the front lines to escape with my life.
Eli: How did the battle go, my son?
Benjaminite Messenger: 17 Many of the people were slaughtered, and Israel has fled from the Philistines. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the covenant chest of the True God is captured.
18 When he heard this news about the covenant chest of the True God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, for he was very old and heavyset.
He was a leader over Israel for 40 years.
19 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and close to the end of her term. When she heard the news—that the covenant chest of the True God had been captured by the Philistines and that her husband and father-in-law were both dead—she was bowed over by her labor pains. She gave birth, 20 and as she was about to die, the midwives told her,
Midwives: Don’t be afraid. You have a son.
But she did not answer or seem to hear them. 21 She said only that the son should be called Ichabod, meaning, “Where has the glory gone?” For so it must have seemed to her with the loss of the covenant chest of God and the deaths of her husband and father-in-law.
Eli’s Daughter-in-law: 22 The glory has gone from Israel because the Philistines have captured the chest of the True God.
24 I tell you the truth: eternal life belongs to those who hear My voice and believe in the One who sent Me. These people have no reason to fear judgment because they have already left death and entered life.
25 I tell you the truth: a new day is imminent—in fact, it has arrived—when the voice of the Son of God will penetrate death’s domain, and everyone who hears will live. 26-27 You see, the Father radiates with life; and He also animates the Son of God with the same life-giving beauty and power to exercise judgment over all of creation. Indeed, the Son of God is also the Son of Man. 28 If this sounds amazing to you, what is even more amazing is that when the time comes, those buried long ago will hear His voice through all the rocks, sod, and soil 29 and step out of decay into resurrection. When this hour arrives, those who did good will be resurrected to life, and those who did evil will be resurrected to judgment.
30 I have not ever acted, and will not in the future act, on My own. I listen to the directions of the One who sent Me and act on these divine instructions. For this reason, My judgment is always fair and never self-serving. I’m committed to pursuing God’s agenda and not My own.
31 If I stand as the lone witness to My true identity, then I can be dismissed as a liar. 32 But if you listen, you will hear another testify about Me, and I know what He says about Me is genuine and true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he told the truth to everyone who would listen. 34 Still his message about Me originated in heaven, not in mortal man. I am telling you these things for one reason—so that you might be rescued. 35 The voice of John the Baptist, the wandering prophet, is like a light in the darkness; and for a time, you took great joy and pleasure in the light he offered.
36 There’s another witness standing in My corner who is greater than John or any other man. The mission that brings Me here, and the things I am called to do, demonstrate the authenticity of My calling which comes directly from the Father. 37 In the act of sending Me, the Father has endorsed Me. None of you really knows the Father. You have never heard His voice or seen His profile. 38 His word does not abide in you because you do not believe in the One sent by the Father.
39 Here you are scouring through the Scriptures, hoping that you will find eternal life among a pile of scrolls. What you don’t seem to understand is that the Scriptures point to Me. 40 Here I am with you, and still you reject the truth contained in the law and prophets by refusing to come to Me so that you can have life.
Jesus is the source of life, the animating energy of creation that humanity desperately lacks.
41 This kind of glory does not come from mortal men. 42 And I see that you do not possess the love of God. 43 I have pursued you, coming here in My Father’s name, and you have turned Me away. If someone else were to approach you with a different set of credentials, you would welcome him. 44 That’s why it is hard to see how true faith is even possible for you: you are consumed by the approval of other men, longing to look good in their eyes; and yet you disregard the approval of the one true God. 45 Don’t worry that I might bring you up on charges before My Father. Moses is your accuser even though you’ve put your hope in him 46 because if you believed what Moses had to say, then you would believe in Me because he wrote about Me. 47 But if you ignore Moses and the deeper meaning of his writings, then how will you ever believe what I have to say?
Psalm 106
1 Praise the Eternal!
Thank Him because He is good
and His loyal love will never end.
2 Who could find words to tell of the Eternal’s mighty deeds
or give Him all the praise He deserves?
3 Blessed are those who work for justice,
who always do what they know to be right!
4 Remember me, O Eternal One, when You show kindness to Your people;
don’t forget me when You are saving them.
5 That way I can know how good it is to be Your chosen people;
that way I can celebrate the joy of Your nation;
that way I can join those who belong to You in unending praise.
Psalm 106 was composed during the exile offering a historical review of the ways God’s people rebelled against Him. It is a fitting closure to Book Four of Psalms. After this liturgy of failure on the part of the people, the psalmist cries out in thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness and in the final verse proclaims praise “from everlasting to everlasting.”
6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned;
we have done wicked things.
7 When our ancestors were leaving Egypt,
they did not consider Your marvelous acts.
They forgot Your overwhelming kindness to them
and instead rebelled at the Red Sea.[a]
8 Nevertheless, God saved them for the honor of His name
so He could show His power to the world.
9 He gave the order, and the waters of the Red Sea dried up,
and He led the people across the sea floor as though it were the wilderness.
10 That’s how He liberated them from their enemies
and rescued them from the hand of their oppressors.
11 After that the sea surged and covered their foes,
and every one of them drowned in its waters.
12 When God’s people saw what He did, they believed what He said
and they sang praises to Him.
30 A serene heart can add years to one’s life;
but jealous passion rots the bones.
The wrong kind of passion can be a dangerous thing. Too often people are ruled by strong emotions, thoughts that cannot be checked, and actions that cannot be controlled. If that’s the case, then you are putting your life and well-being in jeopardy. Peace of mind, tranquility of soul, and serenity of heart become the recipe for a long, happy life.
31 Whoever oppresses the poor insults his Maker,
but anyone who is gracious to the needy honors Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.