1 Samuel 2:1-25 ▼

1 Then Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in Yahweh; My horn is exalted in Yahweh; My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I am glad in Your salvation.

2 There is no one holy like Yahweh; Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

3 Do not multiply speaking so very proudly; Let arrogance not come out of your mouth; For Yahweh is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty are shattered, But those who stumble gird on strength.

5 Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes.

6 Yahweh puts to death and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

7 Yahweh makes poor and rich; He brings low; He also exalts.

8 He raises the poor from the dust; He exalts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of glory; For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s, And He set the world on them.

9 He keeps the feet of His holy ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness, For not by power shall a man prevail.

10 Those who contend with Yahweh will be dismayed; Against them He will thunder in the heavens; Yahweh will render justice to the ends of the earth, And He will give strength to His king, And He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

11 Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the young boy ministered to Yahweh before Eli the priest.

12 Now the sons of Eli were vile men; they did not know Yahweh.

13 And this was the legal judgment for the priests with the people: when any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s young man would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.

14 Then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot; all that the fork would bring up the priest would take for himself. Thus they would do in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15 Also, before they offered up the fat in smoke, the priest’s young man would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting; he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.”

16 Then the man would say to him, “They must surely offer up the fat in smoke first, and then take as much as your soul desires,” then he would say, “No, you shall give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh, for the men spurned the offering of Yahweh.

18 Now Samuel was ministering before Yahweh, as a young boy girded with a linen ephod.

19 And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May Yahweh establish for you a seed from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to Yahweh.” And they went to their own home.

21 Yahweh indeed visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the young boy Samuel grew before Yahweh.

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

24 No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the people of Yahweh passing about.

25 If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for Yahweh desired to put them to death.