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1 Samuel 2 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Hannah’s Prayer

(cf. Luk 1:46–55 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:1 - And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the LORD;
my horn is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:2 - “There is none holy like the LORD:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:3 - Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:4 - The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:5 - Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:6 - The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:7 - The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:8 - He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,
and on them he has set the world.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:9 - “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
for not by might shall a man prevail.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:10 - The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:11 - Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy[fn] was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.

Eli’s Worthless Sons

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:12 - Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:13 - The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:14 - and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:15 - Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:16 - And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:17 - Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:18 - Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy clothed with a linen ephod.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:19 - And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:20 - Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the LORD give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD.” So then they would return to their home.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:21 - Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:22 - Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:23 - And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:24 - No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:25 - If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:26 - Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli’s Household

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:27 - And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:28 - Did I 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? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:29 - Why then do you scorn[fn] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:30 - Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:31 - Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:32 - Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:33 - The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his[fn] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants[fn] of your house shall die by the sword of men.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:34 - And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:35 - And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:36 - And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew na‘ar can be rendered boy (2:11, 18, 21, 26; 3:1, 8), servant (2:13, 15), or young man (2:17), depending on the context
Hebrew kick at
Septuagint; Hebrew your; twice in this verse
Hebrew increase
Septuagint; Hebrew die as men
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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