1Hannah prayed, and said, “My heart exults in the LORD! My horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

2There is no one as holy as the LORD, for there is no one besides you,
nor is there any rock like our God.

3“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth,
for the LORD is a God of knowledge.
By him actions are weighed.

4“The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes.

6“The LORD kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol ⁴and brings up.

7The LORD makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.

8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill
to make them sit with princes
and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s. He has set the world on them.

9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness;
for no man will prevail by strength.

10Those who strive with the LORD shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky.
“The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

11Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served the LORD before Eli the priest.

12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know the LORD.

13The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;

14and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.

15Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”

16If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burnt first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

17The sin of the young men was very great before the LORD; for the men despised the LORD’s offering.

18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, clothed 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.

20Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May the LORD give you offspring ⁵from this woman for the petition which was asked of the LORD.” Then they went to their own home.

21The LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before the LORD.

22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

23He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.

24No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make the LORD’s people disobey.

25If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD intended to kill them.

26The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favour both with the LORD and also with men.

27A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?

28Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?

29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honour your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

30“Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But now the LORD says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me will be cursed.

31Behold, ⁶the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house.

32You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever.

33The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes ⁷and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age.

34This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.

35I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever.

36It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”