Hannah praises the Lord
1Hannah prayed and said:
‘I rejoice because the Lord is with me.
I am strong because the Lord is with me.
I laugh at my enemies
because You have saved me, and I am glad.
2There is no other holy God like the Lord.
Only You are God, and there is no other God.
There is no other Rock like our God.
3Do not keep on boasting,
and do not speak against the Lord,
because God knows everything,
and He judges what we all do.
4The bows_and_arrows of those who go to war are broken,
but those who fell got up again and they are strong.
5People who have always had lots of food,
more food than they could eat,
now have nothing,
and they have to work for a piece of bread.
But people who were always hungry
now have enough to eat.
A woman who could not have children
now has 7 children,
and a woman who had many children
now has none.
6The Lord brings death but He also gives life.
He sends people down into the grave
but He also lifts people up from the grave.
7The Lord makes people poor,
and He makes other people rich.
He makes people fall and He makes them get up.
8He makes poor people get up from the dust,
and He picks them up from the ash-heap.
He makes them sit with important people,
and He gives them a place with kings.
The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord.
He has built the earth and sea on its pillars.
9The Lord leads his servants in his ways,
but bad people will die in the dark.
The power of strong people will not help them to win.
10The enemies of the Lord will die.
The Lord will send thunder from heaven against them.
The Lord will judge all the people on earth,
and He will make his king,
his anointed servant, strong.’
11Then Elkanah went back to his home in Ramah, but his son Samuel stayed with Eli the priest to work for the Lord.
The sons of Eli
12The sons of Eli were bad, and they did not live as God wanted them to. 13After people gave an offering to God, they always gave some of the meat to the priests. After people gave an offering to God, they cooked the meat and then the priest's servant came with a fork that had 3 sharp points 14and he put the fork into the pot with the meat, or into a bowl or pan or dish. The priest could then take the meat that was on the fork for himself. The priests did this with all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15But the servant of the priest sometimes came before the fat was burnt on the altar fire and said to the man: ‘You must give meat to the priest so that he can fry it. He does not want cooked meat. He wants raw meat.’
16And sometimes the man would say to the servant: ‘Wait, they must first burn the fat, then you can take what you want.’ But then the servant would say to him: ‘No, you must give it now. If you don't give it, then I will take it, and you will not be able to stop me.’
17The Lord saw what the sons of Eli did. They sinned because they did not honour the offerings of the Lord.
18Samuel worked in the tent of the Lord. He was wearing a shoulder-cloth.
19Every year his mother made him a small robe. She took it to him when she and her husband went to sacrifice. 20Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and he said: ‘You and your wife gave this child to the Lord. I pray that the Lord will give you other children in his place.’
Then Elkanah and his family went back to their home. 21And the Lord was very good to Hannah. She became pregnant again and they had 3 sons and 2 daughters. But the boy Samuel grew up in the tent of the Lord.
Eli warns his sons
22Now Eli was very old. They told him everything that his sons did to the people of Israel and that they had sex with the women who worked at the door of the tent of the Lord. 23Then Eli asked his sons: ‘Why are you doing these things? They tell me that the people say very bad things about you. 24No, my sons, these are not good things that the people of the Lord say about you. 25If someone sins_against another man, then the judges can judge him, but when you sin against God, no one can help you.’
But the sons of Eli did not listen to their father, because the Lord wanted them to die. 26The child Samuel grew up and God and the people liked him.
The Lord sends a message to Eli
27A man of God came to Eli and said to him: ‘God says: When your forefathers were in Egypt at Pharaoh's house, I showed them clearly who I am. 28I chose your forefather out of all the people of Israel to be my priest. I chose him to work at my altar to burn the incense-offering and wear the shoulder-cloth. I gave him and his family all the burnt-offerings that the people of Israel brought. 29Why don't you honour my offerings and gifts? I told the people of Israel to bring those offerings and gifts to Me. Why do you honour your sons more than you honour Me? You make them fat with the best of all the gifts that my people bring to Me. 30Because you have done this, I, the Lord God of Israel, say to you: I said that your descendants and your family would always work for Me in the tent of the Lord, but now I am saying: That will not happen. I will honour the people who honour Me and I will humiliate the people who do not honour Me. 31The time will come when you and your family will no longer be priests and no one in your family will live for a long time. 32You will see many bad things happening in this tent of the Lord and good things happening to the Israelites, but there will never be an old man in your family. They will die before they get old. 33Any man of your family who keeps on working at my altar will be blind with tears. All the men in your family will die before they are old and 34you will see it happen. To show you that this will happen, your 2 sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day. 35But I will choose someone to be my priest, someone who will be like I want him to be. He will do what I want him to do and his descendants will be like I want them to be. He will always serve the king that I choose. 36Everyone in your family who stays alive will come and beg my priest for a little money or a little bread. He will say: “Please let me be a priest so that I can get a little food to eat.” ’
