I Samuel 2 · שמואל א

And Ḥanna prayed, and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.

There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry have ceased: while the barren has born seven; and she that has many children has become wretched.

The Lord kills, and gives life: he brings down to the grave, and brings up.

The Lord makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and raises up.

He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he has set the world upon them.

He will keep the feet of his pious ones, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for it is not by strength that man prevails.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

And Elqana went to Rama to his house. And the child did minister to the Lord before ῾Eli the priest.

Now the sons of ῾Eli were worthless men; they knew not the Lord.

And the priest’s custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s lad came, while the meat was cooking, with a fork having three teeth in his hand;

and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shilo to all the people of Yisra᾽el who came there.

Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s lad came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give some roasting meat for the priest; for he will not have boiled meat of thee, but raw.

And if any man said to him, Let them first burn the fat, and then take as much as thy soul desires; then he would answer him, No; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.

Wherefore the sin of the lads was very great before the Lord: for the men dishonoured the offering of the Lord.

But Shemu᾽el ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen efod.

Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

And ῾Eli blessed Elqana and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman, in place of the loan which he lent to the Lord. And they went to their own home.

And the Lord visited Ḥanna, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Shemu᾽el grew before the Lord.

Now ῾Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did to all Yisra᾽el; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

And he said to them, Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear: you make the Lord’s people to transgress.

If one man sin against another, the judge judges him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intercede for him? But they did not hearken to the voice of their father, because the Lord was minded to slay them.

And the child Shemu᾽el grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.

And there came a man of God to ῾Eli and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Did I not appear to the house of thy father, when they were in Miżrayim in the house of Par῾o?

And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Yisra᾽el to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an efod before me? and did I give to the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Yisra᾽el?

Wherefore do you kick at my sacrifice and at my 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 Yisra᾽el my people?

Wherefore the Lord God of Yisra᾽el says, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever; but now the Lord says, Far be it from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thy arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house.

And thou shalt see a rival in thy habitation, enjoying all wealth which God shall give Yisra᾽el: and there shall not be an old man in thy house forever.

And thy descendants shall I not cut off from my altar, but they shall be there to consume thy eyes, and to grieve thy heart: and all the greater folk of thy house shall die in the flower of their age.

And this shall be a sign to thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Ḥofni and Pineĥas; in one day they shall die both of them.

And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before my anointed forever.

And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left in thy house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.