[1] Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exults in Yahweh; My horn is exalted
in Yahweh; My mouth is enlarged over my enemies; Because I rejoice in your
salvation. [2] There is none holy as Yahweh; For there is none besides you,
Neither is there any rock like our God. [3] Talk no more so exceeding
proudly; Don`t let arrogance come out of your mouth; For Yahweh is a God of
knowledge, By him actions are weighed. [4] The bows of the mighty men are
broken; Those who stumbled are girded with strength. [5] Those who were
full have hired out themselves for bread; Those who were hungry have ceased
[to hunger]: Yes, the barren has borne seven; She who has many children
languishes. [6] Yahweh kills, and makes alive: He brings down to Sheol, and
brings up. [7] Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, he also
lifts up. [8] He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy
from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, Inherit the throne of
glory: For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh`s, He has set the world on
them. [9] He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked shall be
put to silence in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail. [10]
Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces; Against them will
he thunder in the sky: Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth; He will
give strength to his king, Exalt the horn of his anointed. [11] Elkanah
went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to Yahweh before Eli the
priest. [12] Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn`t know Yahweh.
[13] The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man
offered sacrifice, the priest`s servant came, while the flesh was boiling,
with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand; [14] and he struck it into
the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up
the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who
came there. [15] Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest`s servant came,
and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for
he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw. [16] If the man said to him,
They will surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as your soul
desires; then he would say, No, but you shall give it me now: and if not, I
will take it by force. [17] The sin of the young men was very great before
Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh. [18] But Samuel
ministered before Yahweh, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. [19]
Moreover 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.
[20] Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Yahweh give you seed of
this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh. They went to their
own home. [21] Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three
sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh. [22] Now Eli
was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how
that they lay with the women who served at the door of the tent of meeting.
[23] He said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil
dealings from all this people. [24] No, my sons; for it is no good report
that I hear: you make Yahweh`s people to disobey. [25] If one man sin
against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Yahweh, who
shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they didn`t listen to the voice of
their father, because Yahweh was minded to kill them. [26] The child Samuel
grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. [27]
There came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Did I
reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt [in
bondage] to Pharaoh`s house? [28] and did 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? and did I give to the house of your father all the
offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? [29] Why kick you at my
sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in [my] habitation,
and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all
the offerings of Israel my people? [30] Therefore Yahweh, the God of
Israel, says, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father,
should walk before me forever: but now Yahweh says, Be it far from me; for
those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly
esteemed. [31] Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the
arm of your father`s house, that there shall not be an old man in your
house. [32] You shall see the affliction of [my] habitation, in all the
wealth which [God] shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in
your house forever. [33] The man of yours, [whom] I shall not cut off from
my altar, [shall be] to consume your eyes, and to grieve your heart; and
all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age. [34]
This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two sons, on Hophni
and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them. [35] 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. [36] It shall happen, that everyone who is left in
your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf
of bread, and shall say, Please put me into one of the priests` offices,
that I may eat a morsel of bread.
