- The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
- And He will give strength unto His king,
- And exalt the horn of His anointed.
11And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
12Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not the Lord. 13And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his band; 14and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did unto all the Israelites that came thither in Shiloh. 15Yea, before the fat was made to smoke, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed: 'Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.' 16And if the man said unto him: 'Let the fat be made to smoke first of all, and then take as much as thy soul desireth'; then he would say: 'Nay, but thou shalt give it me now; and if not, I will take it by force.' 17And the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord; for the men dealt contemptuously with the offering of the Lord.
18But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19Moreover 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. 20And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say: 'The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which was lent to the Lord.' And they would go unto their own home. 21So the Lord remembered Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how that they lay with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting. 23And he said unto them: 'Why do ye such things? for I hear evil reports concerning you from all this people. 24Nay, my sons; for it is no good report which I hear the Lord's people do spread abroad. 25If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?' But they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. 26And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.
27And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the Lord: Did I reveal Myself unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? 28And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to go up unto Mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people? 30Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, saith: I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before Me for ever; but now the Lord saith: Be it far from Me:
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