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Eli’s Futile Rebuke. 22 When Eli was very old, he kept hearing how his sons were treating all Israel, and that they were behaving promiscuously[a] with the women serving at the entry of the meeting tent. 23 So he said to them: “Why are you doing such things? I hear from everyone that your behavior is depraved. 24 Stop this, my sons! The report that I hear the Lord’s people spreading is not good. 25 If someone sins against another, anyone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who can intercede[b] for the sinner?” But they disregarded their father’s warning, since the Lord wanted them dead. 26 Meanwhile, young Samuel was growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the Lord and the people.(A)
The Fate of Eli’s House.[c] 27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: I went so far as to reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt as slaves to the house of Pharaoh. 28 I chose them out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priests, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod[d] in my presence; and I assigned all the fire offerings of the Israelites to your father’s house.(B) 29 Why do you stare greedily at my sacrifices and at the offerings that I have prescribed? Why do you honor your sons more than you honor me, fattening yourselves with the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel? 30 (C)This, therefore, is the oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel: I said in the past that your family and your father’s house should minister in my presence forever. But now—oracle of the Lord: Far be it from me! I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me shall be cursed. 31 Yes, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in your family lives to old age. 32 You shall witness, like a disappointed rival, all the benefits enjoyed by Israel, but no member of your household shall ever grow old. 33 I will leave you one man at my altar to wear out his eyes and waste his strength, but the rest of your family shall die by the sword. 34 This is a sign for you—what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Both of them will die on the same day.(D) 35 I will choose a faithful priest who shall do what I have in heart and mind. I will establish a lasting house for him and he shall serve in the presence of my anointed forever. 36 Then whoever is left of your family will grovel before him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, saying: Please assign me a priestly function, that I may have a crust of bread to eat.”(E)
Chapter 3
Revelation to Samuel. 1 During the time young Samuel was minister to the Lord under Eli, the word of the Lord was scarce and vision infrequent. 2 [e]One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see. 3 The lamp of God was not yet extinguished,[f] and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.(F) 4 The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep. 6 Again the Lord called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But he answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”
7 Samuel did not yet recognize the Lord, since the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the youth. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, 10 the Lord came and stood there, calling out as before: Samuel, Samuel! Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 The Lord said to Samuel: I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring.(G) 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have said about his house, beginning to end. 13 I announce to him that I am condemning his house once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them.(H) 14 Therefore, I swear to Eli’s house: No sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime.[g] 15 Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called to him, “Samuel, my son!” He replied, “Here I am.” 17 Then Eli asked, “What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus to you, and more,[h] if you hide from me a single thing he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, “It is the Lord. What is pleasing in the Lord’s sight, the Lord will do.”
Samuel Acknowledged as Prophet. 19 Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to go unfulfilled.(I) 20 (J)Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, manifesting himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word. Samuel’s word spread throughout Israel.
Chapter 4
Defeat of the Israelites.[i] 1 At that time, the Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel. Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel. After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3 When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh that it may go into battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”(K)
Loss of the Ark. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim.[j] The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the ark of God.(L) 5 When the ark of the Lord arrived in the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. 6 The Philistines, hearing the uproar, asked, “What does this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” On learning that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7 the Philistines were frightened, crying out, “Gods have come to their camp. Woe to us! This has never happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?[k] These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with various plagues in the desert. 9 Take courage and act like soldiers, Philistines; otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they were your slaves. Fight like soldiers!” 10 The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; everyone fled to their own tents.[l] It was a disastrous defeat; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were dead.(M)
Death of Eli. 12 A Benjaminite fled from the battlefield and reached Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and his head covered with dirt.(N) 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his chair beside the gate, watching the road, for he was troubled at heart about the ark of God. The man, however, went into the city to announce his news; then the whole city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the uproar, he wondered why there was such commotion. Just then the man rushed up to inform him. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes would not focus. So he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli: “I have come from the battlefield; today I fled from there.” He asked, “What happened, my son?” 17 And the messenger answered: “Israel fled from the Philistines; in fact, the troops suffered heavy losses. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18 At this mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair into the gateway; he died of a broken neck since he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.
19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news about the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she crouched down in labor, and gave birth. 20 She was about to die when the women standing around her said to her, “Do not be afraid, you have given birth to a son.” Yet she neither answered nor paid any attention.(O) 21 She named the child Ichabod, saying, “Gone is the glory from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and to her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “Gone is the glory from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured.(P)
24 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.(A) 25 Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.(B) 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself.(C) 27 And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man.(D) 28 [a]Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice(E) 29 and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.(F)
30 “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.(G)
Witnesses to Jesus. 31 (H)“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified. 32 But there is another[b] who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. 33 You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.(I) 34 I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.(J) 35 He was a burning and shining lamp,[c] and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.(K) 36 But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.(L) 37 Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,(M) 38 and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.(N) 39 You search[d] the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.(O) 40 But you do not want to come to me to have life.
Unbelief of Jesus’ Hearers. 41 “I do not accept human praise;[e] 42 moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.(P) 43 I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.(Q) 44 How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?(R) 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.(S) 46 For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.(T) 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Psalm 106[a]
Israel’s Confession of Sin
1 Hallelujah!
A
Give thanks to the Lord, who is good,
whose mercy endures forever.(A)
2 Who can recount the mighty deeds of the Lord,
proclaim in full God’s praise?
3 Blessed those who do what is right,
whose deeds are always just.(B)
4 Remember me, Lord, as you favor your people;
come to me with your saving help,(C)
5 That I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of your people,
and glory with your heritage.
B
6 We have sinned like our ancestors;(D)
we have done wrong and are guilty.
I
7 Our ancestors in Egypt
did not attend to your wonders.
They did not remember your manifold mercy;
they defied the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake
to make his power known.(E)
9 He roared at the Red Sea and it dried up.
He led them through the deep as through a desert.(F)
10 He rescued them from hostile hands,
freed them from the power of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their oppressors;
not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his words
and sang his praise.(G)
30 A tranquil mind gives life to the body,
but jealousy rots the bones.
31 Those who oppress the poor revile their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.(A)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.