UST 1SA Chapter 2

◄ 1SA 2 ► ║ ═ ©

2 Then Hannah prayed. She said,

“In my inner being I am so happy about what you, Yahweh, have done!

I am strong because I belong to you.

I laugh at my enemies

because I am celebrating the way that you, Yahweh, have helped me.

2 No one else is holy as you are, Yahweh.

You are the only real God.

You, our God, are the only one who can protect us

as if you were a huge rock that we could stand atop and be safe from danger.

3 You people who oppose God, stop making so many boasts!

Yahweh is a God who knows everything,

and he will evaluate what each person does.

So do not speak so arrogantly! 4 Yahweh, you destroy the weapons of mighty soldiers,

but you give strength to those who totter because they are so weak.

5 Many people who previously had plenty to eat now have to work for other people to earn money to buy food,

but many who were always hungry are not hungry anymore.

Women who could not have any children before have now given birth to many children,

but women who had many children before are not able to have any more.

6 You, Yahweh, cause some people to die,

and you cause other people to live.

It seems that some people will soon go to where dead people go,

but you make them healthy again.

7 Yahweh, you cause some people to be poor,

but you cause others to become rich.

You humble some people,

but you honor other people.

8 Poor people often do not have their own homes,

and sometimes they even have to survive on what they can find in a garbage dump.

But you make them prosper so that they do not have to live in those conditions anymore.

Instead, people treat them respectfully in the same ways that they treat other important people whom they want to honor.

You can certainly put people in any positions you choose

because you, Yahweh, are the one who created the foundations of the earth,

and you have set the whole world on those foundations.

9 You protect from harm people who are loyal to you,

but you cause wicked people to die and go to the dark place where dead people go.

People do not defeat their enemies by their own strength. 10 Yahweh, you will break into pieces those who fight against you.

You will come powerfully to punish them.

You, Yahweh, will judge people everywhere.

When you choose a king for us Israelites, you will make him strong.

Yes, when you have a leader anoint someone as our king, you will make him powerful.”

11 After that, Elkanah and his family returned to their home in Ramah. But Samuel, who was still a little boy, stayed at the sacred tent to work with Eli the priest to help the people worship Yahweh. 12 Eli’s two sons were priests like their father, but they did very bad things. That was because they did not respect Yahweh. 13 This is how they treated the people. A family would bring an animal to sacrifice to Yahweh. While the people were still boiling the meat, Eli’s sons would send one of their servants over to them. The servant would be holding a large, three-pronged fork. 14 The servant would stick the fork into whatever container the people were using to boil the meat. He would use the fork to pull out whatever meat he could. He would then take that meat back to Eli’s sons , even though this was more than the law said the priests could have. That was how they treated all of the Israelites who brought animals to sacrifice at the sacred tent in Shiloh. 15 Also, before the people cut off the fat so the priests could burn it, the servant of Eli’s sons would come over to them. The servant would tell the people who were preparing the sacrifice, “Give me some meat now to take to the priest for him to roast! He wants raw meat. He will not accept boiled meat.” 16 The people would say to the servant, “We will give you as much meat as you want, if you will only have the priests cut off the fat and burn it first.” But the servant would answer, “No, give it to me now, before anyone has burned the fat. If you do not give some raw meat to me, I will take some from you forcibly!” 17 Eli’s sons were committing a very serious sin that offended Yahweh personally. They were treating very disrespectfully the offerings that people were bringing to Yahweh. 18 As for Samuel, who was still a young boy, he continued to do work for Yahweh. He wore a little linen apron that showed he was a helper at the sacred tent. 19 Each year his mother made a new little robe for him. She took it to him when she went to Shiloh with her husband to offer their annual sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would ask God to do good things for Elkanah and his wife. He would say to Elkanah, “I hope that Yahweh will enable your wife to give birth to other children, since she brought the child here whom she asked Yahweh to give her.” Then Elkanah and his family would return to their home. 21 And Yahweh helped Hannah to have three more sons and two daughters. She raised them at home, while Samuel stayed in Shiloh and grew up while doing work for Yahweh in his sacred tent. 22 Eli became very old. He heard about all the bad things that his sons were doing to the Israelite people. He heard that they were having sexual relations with the women who stayed near the sacred tent so they could help with the work there. 23 He said to them, “It is terrible that you are doing such things! You are causing many people to complain to me about the wicked things you are doing.” 24 My sons, stop it! The people who worship Yahweh have been giving me accounts of your bad behavior! 25 Suppose one person does something wrong to another person. Then God can act as a referee between them. But suppose a person does something wrong to Yahweh. Then no one can act as a referee between him and Yahweh!” But Eli’s sons would not stop what they were doing, even though their father had commanded them to stop. This was because Yahweh had decided that they had already done so many wicked things that they deserved to die. 26 Samuel, however, continued to grow up, and the things that boy did pleased Yahweh and other people. 27 One day, a prophet came to Eli and spoke a message to him on behalf of Yahweh. He said, “You know that I appeared to your ancestor Aaron when your whole family were slaves of the king of Egypt. 28 From all the tribes of the Israelite people, I chose him and his male descendants to be my priests. I appointed them to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear sacred aprons as they worked for me. I allowed them to have as their own food some of the meat from the animals that the Israelite people brought as sacrifices. 29 But you and your sons are treating with great disrespect the sacrifices and offerings that I commanded the people to bring to my sacred tent! You are letting your sons do what they want instead of making sure that all of you do what I want. You have all been getting fat from eating the best parts of all the sacrifices that my Israelite people have been bringing to me!’ 30 Therefore, this is what Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, declares: ‘I definitely promised that your family would continually serve me as priests, since you are descendants of Aaron. But now,’ he declares, ‘I will certainly not allow you to continue to be priests. I will honor people who honor me, but I will disgrace people who treat me disrespectfully. 31 Listen carefully! There will soon be a time when I will cause all the strong young men in your family and in your clan to die. The result will be that no men in your family will live long enough to become old men. 32 The sacred tent where you serve will experience loss and neglect, even as I do good things for the people of Israel. And I repeat that no men in your family will ever live long enough to become old men. 33 I will allow some of your descendants to survive and continue to serve at my altar. But they will be so sad about what happens to the sacred tent that their eyes will get very tired from crying. And all of your descendants will die while they are still young. 34 And your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day. That will prove to you that everything I have told you will happen. 35 I have chosen another man to be my priest. He is someone who will serve me faithfully. He will do everything I want. I will make sure that he has descendants who will be priests. He will continually be a helper to the king whom I will appoint. 36 All of your descendants who remain alive will have to go to that priest and ask him to give them money and food. They will have to ask him to allow them to work with the other priests so that they can earn money to buy food.”

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