1 My heart is established in the Lord, My horn is exalted in my God; My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, I have rejoiced in thy salvation. 2 For there is none holy as the Lord, And there is none righteous as our God: There is none holy beside thee. 3 Boast not, and utter not high things; Let not high-sounding words come out of your mouth, For the Lord [is] a God of knowledge, And God prepares his own designs. 4 The bow of the mighty has waxed feeble, And the weak have girded themselves with strength. 5 They that were full of bread are brought low; And the hungry have forsaken the land; For the barren has born seven, And she that abounded in children has waxed feeble. 6 The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave, and brings up. 7 The Lord makes poor, and makes rich; He brings low, and lifts up. 8 He lifts up the poor from the earth, And raises the needy from the dunghill; To seat him with the princes of the people, And causing them to inherit the throne of glory: 9 Granting his petition to him that prays; And he blesses the years of the righteous, For by strength cannot man prevail. 10 The Lord will weaken his adversary; The Lord [is] holy. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty man boast in his strength, And let not the rich man boast in his wealth; But let him that boasts boast in this, To understand and know the Lord, And to execute judgment and justice in the midst of the earth. The Lord has gone up to the heavens, and has thundered: He will judge the extremities of the earth, And he gives strength to our kings, And will exalt the horn of his Christ. And she left him there before the Lord, 11 and departed to Ramah: and the child ministered in the presence of the Lord before Eli the priest. 12 And the sons of Eli the priest [were] evil sons, not knowing the Lord. 13 And the priest’s claim from every one of the people that sacrificed [was this]: the servant of the priest came when the flesh was in seething, and a fleshhook of three teeth [was] in his hand. 14 And he struck it into the great caldron, or into the brazen vessel, or into the pot, and whatever came up with the fleshhook, the priest took for himself: so they did to all Israel that came to sacrifice to the Lord in Shiloh. 15 And before the fat was burned for a sweet savor, the servant of the priest would come, and say to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and I will by no means take of thee sodden flesh out of the caldron. 16 And [if] the man that sacrificed said, First let the fat be burned, as it is fit, and take for thyself of all things which thy soul desires: then he would say, Nay, for thou shalt give it me now; and if not, I will take it by force. 17 So the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for they set at nought the offering of the Lord. 18 And Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girded with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother made him a little doublet, and brought it to him from year to year, in her going up in company with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, saying, The Lord recompense to thee seed of this woman, in return for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord: and the man returned to his place. 21 And the Lord visited Hannah, and she bore yet three sons, and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. 22 And Eli [was] very old, and he heard what his sons did to the children of Israel. 23 And he said to them, Why do ye according to this thing, which I hear from the mouth of all the people of the Lord? 24 Nay [my] sons, for the report which I hear [is] not good; do not so, for the reports which I hear [are] not good, so that the people do not serve God. 25 If a man should at all sin against another, then shall they pray for him to the Lord; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would by all means destroy them. 26 And the child Samuel advanced, and was in favor with God and with men. 27 And a man of God came to Eli, and said, Thus says the Lord, I plainly revealed myself to the house of thy father, when they were servants in Egypt to the house of Pharaoh. 28 And I chose the house of thy father out of all the tribes of Israel to minister to me in the priest’s office, to go up to my altar, and to burn incense, and to wear an ephod. And I gave to the house of thy father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel for food. 29 And wherefore hast thou looked upon mine incense offering and my meat offering with a shameless eye, and hast honored thy sons above me, so that they should bless themselves with the firstfruits of every sacrifice of Israel before me? 30 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, I said, Thy house and the house of thy father shall pass before me forever: but now the Lord says, That be far from me; for I will only honor them that honor me, and he that sets me at nought shall be despised. 31 Behold, the days come when I will destroy thy seed and the seed of thy father’s house. 32 And thou shalt not have an old man in my house forever. 33 And [if] I do not destroy a man of thine from my altar, [it shall be] that his eyes may fail and his soul may perish; and everyone that remains in thy house shall fall by the sword of men. 34 And this which shall come upon thy two sons Hophni and Phinehas shall be a sign to thee; in one day they shall both die. 35 And I will raise up to myself a faithful priest, who shall do all that is in my heart and in my soul; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before my Christ forever. 36 And it shall come to pass that he that survives in thy house, shall come to do obeisance before him for a little piece of silver, saying, Put me into one of thy priests’ offices to eat bread.
1 Samuel · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
1 Samuel 2 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Eli
The priest at Shiloh who judged Israel forty years, blessed Hannah, took in the boy Samuel, failed to restrain his wicked sons, and died at ninety-eight when he heard the ark of…
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 2:22
Hophni
A priest at Shiloh and son of Eli, who treated the LORD's offering with contempt and died the same day as his brother Phinehas when the ark of God was captured.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 2:34; 1 Samuel 4:4
Phinehas
A priest at Shiloh and son of Eli, who died on the day the ark of God was captured; his wife died in childbirth after naming their son Ichabod.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 2:34; 1 Samuel 4:4
Cross references (36)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Luke 1:46–56; Psalm 13:5; Isaiah 12:2–3; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 92:10
- 2 2 Samuel 22:32; Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 86:8; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 89:8
- 3 1 Kings 8:39; Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 24:12; Jude 15–16; Hebrews 4:12
- 4 Psalm 76:3; Psalm 37:15; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 46:9; Hebrews 11:34
- 5 Psalm 113:9; Jeremiah 15:9; Luke 1:53; Psalm 34:10; Isaiah 54:1
- 6 Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 26:19; Jonah 2:2–6; 2 Kings 5:7; Job 5:18
- 7 Psalm 75:7; Job 5:11; Deuteronomy 8:17–18; Job 1:21; James 4:10
- 8 Psalm 113:7–8; James 2:5; Daniel 2:48; Daniel 6:3; 1 Samuel 15:17
- 9 Psalm 91:11–12; Psalm 121:3; Psalm 33:16–17; 1 Peter 1:5; Job 5:24
- 10 Psalm 2:9; Psalm 89:24; Psalm 18:13–14; Psalm 96:13; Exodus 15:6
- 11 1 Samuel 2:18; 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 1:28; 1 Samuel 1:19; 1 Samuel 3:15
- 12 Romans 1:28–30; Jeremiah 2:8; Romans 1:21; Judges 2:10; 2 Corinthians 6:15
- 13 Leviticus 7:29–34
- 14 Exodus 29:27–28; 1 Samuel 2:29; Isaiah 56:11; 2 Peter 2:13–15; Malachi 1:10
- 15 Leviticus 3:16; Romans 16:18; Leviticus 3:3–5; Philippians 3:19; Jude 12
- 16 Leviticus 7:23–25; Leviticus 3:16; 1 Peter 5:2–3; Judges 18:25; Nehemiah 5:15
- 17 Malachi 2:7–9; Genesis 13:13; Malachi 2:13; Genesis 6:11; 2 Kings 21:6
- 18 Exodus 28:4; 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 2:11; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Samuel 22:18
- 19 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 1:21; Exodus 23:14
- 20 1 Samuel 1:27–28; Luke 2:34; Ruth 4:11; Genesis 27:27–29; Ruth 2:12
- 21 Luke 2:40; Genesis 21:1; 1 Samuel 3:19; 1 Samuel 2:26; Judges 13:24
- 22 Exodus 38:8; Jeremiah 7:9–10; 1 Samuel 2:13–17; Hosea 4:9–11; Ezekiel 22:26
- 23 Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 3:3; Acts 9:4; Jeremiah 8:12; Acts 14:15
- 24 1 Kings 15:30; 2 Corinthians 6:8; Acts 6:3; 1 Timothy 3:7; Matthew 18:7
- 25 Joshua 11:20; Numbers 15:30; Hebrews 10:26; 1 Samuel 3:14; 1 Timothy 2:5
- 26 Luke 2:52; Luke 2:40; Acts 2:47; Luke 1:80; 1 Samuel 2:21
- 27 Judges 13:6; 1 Kings 13:1; Deuteronomy 33:1; Exodus 4:14–16; Exodus 4:27
- 28 Exodus 28:1; Leviticus 8:7–8; Numbers 18:19; Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 7:34–35
- 29 Matthew 10:37; Deuteronomy 32:15; 1 Samuel 2:13–17; Malachi 1:12–13; Luke 14:26
- 30 John 12:26; Jeremiah 18:9–10; Proverbs 3:9–10; Malachi 1:6; Psalm 91:14
- 31 1 Samuel 22:17–20; 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 4:11–20; 1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 4:2
- 32 Zechariah 8:4; 1 Samuel 4:11; Psalm 78:59–64; 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 4:22
- 33 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 22:21–23; 1 Kings 1:19; 1 Kings 1:7; Matthew 2:16–18
- 34 1 Samuel 4:11; 1 Kings 13:3; 1 Samuel 4:17; 1 Samuel 3:12; 1 Kings 14:12
- 35 2 Samuel 7:27; 2 Samuel 7:11; 1 Kings 11:38; 1 Samuel 25:28; Psalm 18:50
- 36 1 Kings 2:27; Ezekiel 44:10–12; Malachi 1:13; 1 Samuel 2:29–30
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The Lord hath ascended into the heavens, and hath thundered: He shall judge the ends of the earth, for He is righteous: and He giveth strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ." Do you say that these are the words of a single weak woman giving thanks for the birth of a son?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
"For them that glorify me," saith He, "I will glorify; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed." Let us, I say, do all things unto His glory; that we may attain unto that blessed portion, unto which God grant we may all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
If thou findest fault with Him who saith, The Lord killeth, and maketh alive, why dost thou honour Peter, who raised up Tabitha, but struck Sapphira dead?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
For even as ten thousand times signifies often, so here too. For by saying, "The barren hath borne seven," the Scripture means many.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)