1 Samuel 2:2-27

²No other is holy as the Lord, for there is no other God but you: there is no Rock like our God.

³Say no more words of pride; let not uncontrolled sayings come out of your mouths: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, by him acts are judged.

⁴The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength.

⁵Those who were full are offering themselves as servants for bread; those who were in need are at rest; truly, she who had no children has become the mother of seven; and she who had a family is wasted with sorrow.

⁶The Lord is the giver of death and life: sending men down to the underworld and lifting them up.

⁷The Lord gives wealth and takes a man's goods from him: crushing men down and again lifting them up;

⁸Lifting the poor out of the dust, and him who is in need out of the lowest place, to give them their place among rulers, and for their heritage the seat of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has made them the base of the world.

⁹He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the evil-doers will come to their end in the dark night, for by strength no man will overcome.

¹⁰Those who make war against the Lord will be broken; against them he will send his thunder from heaven: the Lord will be judge of the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, lifting up the horn of him on whom the holy oil has been put.

¹¹Then Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child became the servant of the Lord under the direction of Eli the priest.

¹²Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord.

¹³And the priests' way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest's servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth;

¹⁴This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

¹⁵And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked.

¹⁶And if the man said to him, First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you will; then the servant would say, No, you are to give it to me now, or I will take it by force.

¹⁷And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings.

¹⁸But Samuel did the work of the Lord's house, while he was a child, dressed in a linen ephod.

¹⁹And his mother made him a little robe and took it to him every year when she came with her husband for the year's offering.

²⁰And every year Eli gave Elkanah and his wife a blessing, saying, May the Lord give you offspring by this woman in exchange for the child you have given to the Lord. And they went back to their house.

²¹And the Lord had mercy on Hannah and she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the young Samuel became older before the Lord.

²²Now Eli was very old; and he had news from time to time of what his sons were doing to all Israel.

²³And he said to them, Why are you doing such things? for from all this people I get accounts of your evil ways.

²⁴No, my sons, the account which is given me, which the Lord's people are sending about, is not good.

²⁵If one man does wrong to another, God will be his judge: but if a man's sin is against the Lord, who will take up his cause? But they gave no attention to the voice of their father, for it was the Lord's purpose to send destruction on them.

²⁶And the young Samuel, becoming older, had the approval of the Lord and of men.

²⁷And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, The Lord says, Did I let myself be seen by your father's people when they were in Egypt, servants in Pharaoh's house?