2 Then Hannah prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. Now the boy was serving Yahweh in the presence of^[i] Eli the priest.

The Family of Eli the Priest

¹² Now the sons of Eli were worthless scoundrels;^[j] they did not know^[k] Yahweh. ¹³ And the custom of the priests with the people was this: When any man brought a sacrifice,^[l] as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand ¹⁴ and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh. ¹⁵ Also, before they offered up^[m] the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only raw.”^{[n] 16} And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat completely first,^[o] then take for yourself as you^[p] desire,” then he would say to him, “No!^[q] Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!” ¹⁷ So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.

Samuel’s Life in the Tabernacle

¹⁸ Now Samuel was serving before Yahweh, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him year by year^[r] whenever she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.^{[s] 20} And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and he said, “May Yahweh give you an offspring from this woman in place of the petitioned one that she requested from Yahweh.” Then they went to their home. ²¹ Yahweh took note of Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, while the young man Samuel grew up with Yahweh.

Eli Rebukes His Evil Sons

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they were having sexual relations with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of assembly.^{[t] 23} And he asked them, “Why are you doing all these things that I am hearing, namely, your evil dealings with all these people? ²⁴ No, my sons, the report is not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading. ²⁵ If a man sins against a man, then God can intercede for him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?” But they did not obey^[u] their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them. ²⁶ But the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor^[v] with Yahweh and with the people.

Yahweh Rebukes Eli

²⁷ Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your ancestor^[w] when they were in Egypt under the house of Pharaoh? ²⁸ And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to bear an ephod before me. I gave to the house of your ancestor^[x] all the offerings made by fire by the Israelites.^{[y] 29} Why do you despise my sacrifice and my offering which I commanded for my dwelling place, while you honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel? ³⁰ Therefore,’ declares^[z] Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor^[aa] would walk before me forever, but now,’ declares^[ab] Yahweh, ‘far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt! ³¹ Look, days are coming when I will cut off your strength^[ac] and the strength^[ad] of the house of your ancestor^[ae] so that no one in your house will live to old age.^{[af] 32} You will look at the distress of my dwelling place, despite all the good caused for Israel, but there will never be an old man in your household forever!^{[ag] 33} The only one I will not cut off from my altar is you.^[ah] Rather, to cause your eyes to fail and to cause your soul to grieve, all the members of your household^[ai] will die as men.^{[aj] 34} This is the sign for you that will come regarding your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: they will both die on the same day! ³⁵ But I will raise up for myself a reliable^[ak] priest; he will do just according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build for him a lasting^[al] house and he will walk continually before my anointed one forever.^{[am] 36} All the remainder of your household will come to bow down before^[an] him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, “Please assign me to one of the priestly offices^[ao] so that I can eat a morsel of bread.”’”