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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 2 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Hannah’s Prayer of Praise
(cf. Luk 1:46–55 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:1 - Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD!
The LORD has made me strong.[fn]
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:2 - No one is holy like the LORD!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:3 - “Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the LORD is a God who knows what you have done;
he will judge your actions.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:4 - The bow of the mighty is now broken,
and those who stumbled are now strong.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:5 - Those who were well fed are now starving,
and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:6 - The LORD gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave[fn] but raises others up.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:7 - The LORD makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:8 - He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the LORD’s,
and he has set the world in order.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:9 - “He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:10 - Those who fight against the LORD will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the LORD judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength[fn] of his anointed one.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:11 - Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the LORD by assisting Eli the priest.
Eli’s Wicked Sons
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:12 - Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:13 - or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling,
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:14 - the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:15 - Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:16 - The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:17 - So the sin of these young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight, for they treated the LORD’s offerings with contempt.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:18 - But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the LORD. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:19 - Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:20 - Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the LORD.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:21 - And the LORD gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:22 - Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:23 - Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning?
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:24 - You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the LORD’s people are not good.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:25 - If someone sins against another person, God[fn] can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the LORD was already planning to put them to death.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:26 - Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the LORD and with the people.
A Warning for Eli’s Family
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:27 - One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the LORD: “I revealed myself[fn] to your ancestors when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:28 - I chose your ancestor Aaron[fn] from among all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest[fn] as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:29 - So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me—for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:30 - “Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi[fn] would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:31 - The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:32 - You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:33 - Those who survive will live in sadness and grief, and their children will die a violent death.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:34 - And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day!
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:35 - “Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I desire. I will establish his family, and they will be priests to my anointed kings forever.
Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 2:36 - Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.’”
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew has exalted my horn.
Hebrew to Sheol.
Hebrew he exalts the horn.
Hebrew He wore a linen ephod.
As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads this one he requested of the LORD.
Hebrew Tent of Meeting. Some manuscripts lack this entire sentence.
Or the judges.
As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads Did I reveal myself.
Hebrew your father.
Hebrew an ephod.
Hebrew that your house and your father’s house.
As in Dead Sea Scrolls, which read die by the sword; Masoretic Text reads die like mortals.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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1 Samuel Chapter 2 — Additional Translations: