1And Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD. My horn is lifted high in the LORD. My mouth is opened wide against my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation."
2"There is no one holy like the LORD. There is no one besides you. There is no rock like our God."
3"Do not talk any more so proudly. Let no arrogant word come out of your mouth. For the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed."
4"The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are clothed with strength."
5"Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and those who were hungry are hungry no more. The woman who could not bear children has given birth to seven, and she who had many children has grown weak."
6"The LORD kills, and makes alive. He brings down to the grave, and he brings up."
7"The LORD makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, and he lifts up."
8"He raises the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar from the ash heap, to seat them among princes and to give them a glorious throne as their own. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he has set the world upon them."
9"He will guard the feet of his holy ones, and the wicked will be silent in darkness. For no one wins by his own strength."
10"The enemies of the LORD will be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them out of heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and lift high the horn of his anointed one."
12Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.
13This was what the priests did with the people: when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.
14He stuck it into the pan, or the kettle, or the cauldron, or the pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest took for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
15Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat to roast. He will not take boiled meat from you, but raw."
16And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you want," the servant would answer, "No, you shall give it to me now. If you do not, I will take it by force."
17So the sin of these young men was very great before the LORD, for men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
18But Samuel served before the LORD. He was a child, wearing a linen ephod.
19His mother also made him a little coat and brought it to him year by year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said, "May the LORD give you children by this woman, in place of the one she asked for and lent to the LORD." Then they went back to their own home.
21And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew up before the LORD.
22Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
23He said to them, "Why do you do such things? I hear of your evil deeds from all these people."
24"No, my sons. The report I hear is not good. You make the people of the LORD sin."
25"If one man sins against another, the judge will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will plead for him?" But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD meant to kill them.
26And the child Samuel kept growing, and he was pleasing both to the LORD and to men.
27A man of God came to Eli and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Did I not plainly show myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?"
28'And did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
29'Why then do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I commanded in my dwelling place? Why do you honour your sons more than me, making yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?'
30"So the LORD God of Israel says: I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before me for ever. But now the LORD says: Far be it from me. Those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me will be treated as nothing."
31"'Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house."
32'And you will see an enemy in my dwelling place, in all the good that God shall give Israel. And there will never be an old man in your house.
33'The man of yours whom I do not cut off from my altar will be left to wear out your eyes and to grieve your heart. And all the children born in your house will die in the prime of life.
34'And this will be the sign to you, which will come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
35'And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he will walk before my anointed one for ever.
36"'And everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a bit of bread, and will say, Please give me some work among the priests, so that I may eat a piece of bread.'"