The LORD Calls Samuel

¹And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli.Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare, and visions were scarce.

²And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.

³Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was located.

⁴Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”

⁵He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.”“I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”So he went and lay down.

⁶Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!”So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.”“My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸Once again, for the third time, the LORD called to Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.”Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy.

⁹“Go and lie down,” he said to Samuel, “and if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’”So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel at which the ears of all who hear it will tingle.

¹²On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have spoken about his house, from beginning to end.

¹³I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed Godand he did not restrain them.

¹⁴Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, ‘The iniquity of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

Samuel Shares the Vision

¹⁵Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

¹⁶but Eli called to him and said, “Samuel, my son.”“Here I am,” answered Samuel.

¹⁷“What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you.”

¹⁸So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him.“He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”

¹⁹And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

²⁰So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD.

²¹And the LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because there He revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.

Hannah’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

¹At that time Hannah prayed:“My heart rejoices in the LORD;my hornis exalted in the LORD.My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,for I rejoice in Your salvation.

²There is no one holy like the LORD.Indeed, there is no one besides You!And there is no Rock like our God.

³Do 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.

⁴The bows of the mighty are broken,but the feeble are equipped with strength.

⁵The 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.

⁶The LORD brings death and gives life;He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷The LORD sends poverty and wealth;He humbles and He exalts.

⁸He raises the poor from the dustand lifts the needy from the ash heap.He seats them among princesand 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.

⁹He guards the steps of His faithful ones,but the wicked perish in darkness;for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁰Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered.He will thunder from heaven against them.The LORD will judge the ends of the earthand will give power to His king.He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

¹¹Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

¹²Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

¹³or 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

¹⁴and 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.

¹⁵Even 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.”

¹⁶And 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!”

¹⁷Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for theywere treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

¹⁸Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.

¹⁹Each 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.

²⁰And 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.

²¹So 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.

²²Now 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.

²³“Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people.

²⁴No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people.

²⁵If a man sins against another man, Godcan 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.

²⁶And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.

A Prophecy against the House of Eli

²⁷Then 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?

²⁸And 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.

²⁹Why then do you kick atMy 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.’

³⁰Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares:‘I did indeed say that your houseand the house of your fatherwould 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.

³¹Behold, 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.

³²You 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.

³³And 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 descendantswill die by the sword of men.

³⁴And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.

³⁵Then 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.

³⁶And 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.”’”

Jacob Meets Esau

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

²He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

³But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

⁴Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

⁵When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down.

⁷Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

⁸“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau.“To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

⁹“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”

¹⁰But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably.

¹¹Please accept my giftthat was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

¹³But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.

¹⁴Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said.But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,

¹⁷but Jacob went on to Succoth,where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram,he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city.

¹⁹And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

²⁰There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

The LORD Exalts the Humble

¹Hallelujah!Give praise, O servants of the LORD;praise the name of the LORD.

²Blessed be the name of the LORDboth now and forevermore.

³From where the sun rises to where it sets,the name of the LORD is praised.

⁴The LORD is exalted over all the nations,His glory above the heavens.

⁵Who is like the LORD our God,the One enthroned on high?

⁶He humbles Himself to beholdthe heavens and the earth.

⁷He raises the poor from the dustand lifts the needy from the dump

⁸to seat them with nobles,with the princes of His people.

⁹He settles the barren woman in her homeas a joyful mother to her children.Hallelujah!