1 Samuel · Majority Standard Bible
1 Samuel 2 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.
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 no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
2 There is no one as holy as Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.
3 Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.
3 “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly 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 are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.
4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.
5 Those 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 brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
6 “Yahweh kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up.
7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.
8 He 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 Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
9 He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.
9 He 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.
10 Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth and will give power to His king. He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”
10 Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.
11 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest.
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh.
13 or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling
13 The 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;
14 and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.
14 and 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.
15 Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
15 Yes, before they burned 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.”
16 And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”
16 If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned 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.”
17 Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.
17 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised Yahweh’s offering.
18 Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.
18 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
19 Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
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 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home.
21 So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
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 about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
22 Now 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.
23 “Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people.
23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.
24 No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people.
24 No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey.
25 If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.
25 If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.
26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.
26 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh and also with men.
27 Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house?
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?
28 And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the food offerings of the Israelites.
28 Didn’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?
29 Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’
29 Why do you kick 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, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.
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, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed.
31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age.
31 Behold, the 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.
32 You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age.
32 You 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.
33 And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, I will cause your eyes to fail and your heart to grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.
33 The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age.
34 And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.
34 This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.
35 I 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.
36 And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”
36 It 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.”’”
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)