Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God the Supreme King

¹¹ Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed in Shiloh and served the Lord under the priest Eli.

The Sons of Eli

¹² The sons of Eli were scoundrels. They paid no attention to the Lord ¹³ or to the regulations concerning what the priests could demand from the people. Instead, when someone was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fork. While the meat was still cooking, ¹⁴ he would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever the fork brought out belonged to the priest. All the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices were treated like this. ¹⁵ In addition, even before the fat was taken off and burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the one offering the sacrifice, “Give me some meat for the priest to roast; he won't accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat.”

¹⁶ If the person answered, “Let us do what is right and burn the fat first; then take what you want,” the priest's servant would say, “No! Give it to me now! If you don't, I will have to take it by force!”

¹⁷ This sin of the sons of Eli was extremely serious in the Lord's sight, because they treated the offerings to the Lord with such disrespect.

God's Anger and Mercy

¹⁹ But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” ^20 (A)But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” ^21 (B)After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.

^22 (C)And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. ²³ And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. ²⁴ For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. ^25 (D)This is what he says in the book of Hosea:

^27 (F)And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; ²⁸ for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” ^29 (G)It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”