Hannah’s Prayer of Thanksgiving
1 Hannah prayed, and said:
“My heart exults in the Lord!
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 There is no one as holy as the Lord,
for there is no one besides you,
nor is there any rock like our God.
3 Do not keep talking so exceedingly proudly.
Do not let arrogance come from your mouth,
for the Lord is a God of knowledge.
By him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty men are broken.
Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
Those who were hungry are satisfied.
Yes, the barren has borne seven.
She who has many children languishes.
6 The Lord kills and makes alive.
He brings down to Sheol and brings up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich.
He brings low, and he also lifts up.
8 He raises up the poor out of the dust.
He lifts up the needy from the dunghill
to make them sit with princes
and inherit the throne of glory.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s.
He has set the world on them.
9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones,
but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness,
for no man will prevail by strength.
10 Those who strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces.
He will thunder against them in the heavens.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
11 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served the Lord before Eli the priest.
The Sins of Eli’s Sons
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not know the Lord.
13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three tines in his hand; 14 and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”
16 If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first and then take as much as your heart desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
17 The sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt. 18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said, “May the Lord give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of the Lord.” Then they went to their own home.
21 The Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before the Lord.
Eli Reproves his Sons
22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard everything that his sons did to all of Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why are you doing such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear! You are making the Lord’s people disobey. 25 If one man sins against another, the Lord will judge him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord intended to kill them.
26 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with the Lord and also with men.
Prophecy Against Eli’s House
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “The Lord says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?
28 Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the Israelites made by fire? 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling place, and honor your sons above me, making yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’
30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever.’ However, now the Lord says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. 31 The days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestral family. There will not be an old man in your house. 32 And you shall see an oppressor in my dwelling place, amidst all the good that shall be done to Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 But any of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the prime of their life.
34 This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. 35 I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever. 36 It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say: Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.’ ”