¹Hannah prayed, “My heart has rejoiced in the Lord; my horn has been raised high because of the Lord. I have loudly denounced my enemies. Indeed I rejoice in your deliverance.²No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one other than you! There is no rock like our God! ³Don’t keep speaking so arrogantly. Proud talk should not come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God who knows; he evaluates what people do.⁴The bows of warriors are shattered, but those who stumbled have taken on strength. ⁵The well fed hire themselves out to earn food, but the hungry no longer lack. Even the barren woman has given birth to seven, but the one with many children has declined.⁶The Lord both kills and gives life; he brings down to the grave and raises up. ⁷The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy; he humbles and he exalts. ⁸He lifts the weak from the dust; he raises the poor from the ash heap to seat them with princes— he bestows on them an honored position. The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord— he placed the world on them.⁹He watches over his holy ones, but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness, for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails. ¹⁰The Lord shatters his adversaries; he thunders against them from the heavens. The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth. He will strengthen his king and exalt the power of his anointed one.” ¹¹Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. The boy Samuel was serving the Lord with the favor of Eli the priest. ¹²But the sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not acknowledge the Lord’s authority.¹³This was the priests’ routine with the people. Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand, just as the meat was boiling. ¹⁴He would jab it into the basin, kettle, cauldron, or pot. Everything that the fork would bring up the priest would take for himself. This is how they used to treat all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. ¹⁵Also, before they burned the fat the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Give some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹⁶If the individual said to him, “They should certainly burn the fat away first, then take for yourself whatever you wish,” then he would say, “No! Give it now! If not, I’ll take it by force!”¹⁷The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offering with contempt. ¹⁸Now Samuel was ministering with the favor of the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod. ¹⁹His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it to him from time to time when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice. ²⁰Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord establish descendants for you from this woman in place of the one that she dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their home. ²¹And indeed the Lord attended to Hannah. She got pregnant and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. But the boy Samuel grew up before the Lord. ²²Eli was very old. And he would hear about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to go to bed with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³So he said to them, “Why do you do these things, these evil things that I hear about from all these people? ²⁴No, my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good. ²⁵If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But Eli’s sons would not listen to their father. Indeed the Lord had decided to kill them.²⁶However, the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people. ²⁷Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘I plainly revealed myself to your ancestor’s house when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh in Egypt. ²⁸I chose your ancestor from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifice on my altar, to burn incense, and to bear the ephod before me. I gave to your ancestor’s house all the fire offerings made by the Israelites. ²⁹Why are you scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’ ³⁰“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed! ³¹In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength and the strength of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house! ³²You will see trouble in my dwelling place! Israel will experience blessings, but there will not be an old man in your house for all time. ³³Any man of yours that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause his eyes to fail and will cause him grief. All those born to your family will die by the sword of man.³⁴This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die! ³⁵Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a lasting dynasty, and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ³⁶Everyone who remains in your house will come to bow before him for a little money and for a scrap of bread. Each will say, “Assign me to a priestly task so I can eat a scrap of bread.”’”