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1 Samuel 2:25

"If one man does wrong and sins against another, God will intercede (arbitrate) for him; but if a man does wrong to the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to their father, for it was the LORD'S will to put them to death.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Children;   Eli;   Hophni;   Impenitence;   Intercession;   Judge;   Minister, Christian;   Obduracy (Hardness);   Predestination;   Thompson Chain Reference - Israel;   Israel-The Jews;   Judges of Israel;   The Topic Concordance - Sin;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Children, Wicked;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Eli;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Priest, Priesthood;   Providence of God;   Samuel, First and Second, Theology of;   Will of God;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - High Priest;   Intercession;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Law;   Mary;   Priests and Levites;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Sacrifices ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Hannah;   Hophni;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Abner;   Eli;   Smith Bible Dictionary - E'li;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Daysman;   God;   Gods;   Mediation;   Samuel, Books of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Blessing of Children;   Hophni;   Priest;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for January 31;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them.
Hebrew Names Version
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD was minded to kill them.
King James Version
If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord , who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
Lexham English Bible
If a man sins against a man, then God can intercede for him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?" But they did not obey their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them.
English Standard Version
If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord , who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.
New Century Version
If you sin against someone, God can help you. But if you sin against the Lord himself, no one can help you!" But Eli's sons would not listen to him, because the Lord had decided to put them to death.
New English Translation
If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord , who then will intercede for him?" But Eli's sons would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.
New American Standard Bible
"If one person sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.
Geneva Bible (1587)
If one man sinne against another, the Iudge shal iudge it: but if a man sinne against the Lord, who will pleade for him? Notwithstanding they obeyed not the voyce of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
Legacy Standard Bible
If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for Yahweh desired to put them to death.
Contemporary English Version
If you harm another person, God can help make things right between the two of you. But if you commit a crime against the Lord , no one can help you!" But the Lord had already decided to kill them. So he kept them from listening to their father.
Complete Jewish Bible
If a person commits a sin against another person, the judges can mediate between them. But if a person commits a sin against Adonai , who can intercede for him?" However, they wouldn't pay attention to what their father said, because Adonai had decided to kill them.
Darby Translation
If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was minded to slay them.
Easy-to-Read Version
If you sin against other people, God might protect you. But who can help you if you sin against the Lord ?" Eli's sons refused to listen to him, so the Lord decided to kill them.
George Lamsa Translation
If a man sin against a man, he will seek forgiveness before the LORD; but if a man sin against the LORD, from whom shall he seek forgiveness? But they did not hearken to the voice of their father, because it was the LORDS will that they should be slain.
Good News Translation
If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend the one who is wrong; but who can defend someone who sins against the Lord ?" But they would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.
Literal Translation
If a man sins against a man, then God shall judge him. But if a man sins against Jehovah, who shall pray for him? But they did not listen to the voice of their father because Jehovah desired to put them to death.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf eny ma synne agaynst a man, the iudge ca redresse it. But yf eny ma synne agaynst ye LORDE, who can redresse it? Neuertheles they herkened not vnto the voyce of their father, for the LORDES wyll was to slaye them.
American Standard Version
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because Jehovah was minded to slay them.
Bible in Basic English
If one man does wrong to another, God will be his judge: but if a man's sin is against the Lord, who will take up his cause? But they gave no attention to the voice of their father, for it was the Lord's purpose to send destruction on them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If one man sinne against another, the Iudge shall iudge it: But if a man sinne against the Lord, who will be his dayseman? Notwithstandiug, they hearkened not vnto the voyce of their father, because the Lorde would slay the.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him?' But they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
King James Version (1611)
If one man sinne against another, the Iudge shall iudge him: but if a man sinne against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not vnto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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 intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would by all means destroy them.
English Revised Version
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
Berean Standard Bible
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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If a man synneth ayens a man, God may be plesid to him; forsothe if a man synneth ayens the Lord, who schal preye for hym? And thei herden not the vois of her fadir, for God wolde sle hem.
Young's Literal Translation
If a man sin against a man, then hath God judged him; but if against Jehovah a man sin, who doth pray for him?' and they hearken not to the voice of their father, though Jehovah hath delighted to put them to death.
Update Bible Version
If a man sins against another man, God shall judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh was minded to slay them.
Webster's Bible Translation
If one man shall sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man shall sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
World English Bible
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.
New King James Version
If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.
New Living Translation
If someone sins against another person, God 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.
New Life Bible
If one man sins against another, God will help make peace for him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can make peace for him?" Yet they would not listen to what their father said, for it was the Lord's will to kill them.
New Revised Standard
If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord ; but if someone sins against the Lord , who can make intercession?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If one man sin against another, God will interpose, but, if, against Yahweh, a man sin, who will intercede, for him? But they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, for Yahweh was pleased to put them to death.
Douay-Rheims Bible
If one man shall sin against another, God may be appeased in his behalf: but if a man shall sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him? And they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
Revised Standard Version
If a man sins against a man, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the LORD to slay them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.

Contextual Overview

11Elkanah [and his wife Hannah] returned to Ramah to his house. But the child [Samuel] served the LORD under the guidance of Eli the priest. 12The sons of Eli [Hophni and Phinehas] were worthless (dishonorable, unprincipled) men; they did not know [nor respect] the LORD 13and the custom of the priests with [the sacrifices of] the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged [meat] fork in his hand; 14then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did in Shiloh to all [the sacrifices of] the Israelites who came there. 15Also, before they burned (offered) the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat to roast, since he will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw." 16If the man said to him, "Certainly they are to burn (offer) the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want," then the priest's servant would say, "No! You shall give it to me now or I will take it by force." 17So the sin of the [two] young men [Hophni and Phinehas] was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD disrespectfully. 18Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD, as a child dressed in a linen ephod [a sacred item of priestly clothing]. 19Moreover, his mother would make him a little robe and would bring it up to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she asked for which was dedicated to the LORD." Then they would return to their own home.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

sin against: Deuteronomy 17:8-12, Deuteronomy 25:1-3

if a man: 1 Samuel 3:14, Numbers 15:30, Psalms 51:4, Psalms 51:16, Hebrews 10:26

who shall: 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 7:25

hearkened: Deuteronomy 2:30, Joshua 11:20, 2 Chronicles 25:16, Proverbs 15:10, John 12:39, John 12:40

because: Rather, therefore, as the particle kee also signifies (see note on Psalms 116:10), so Noldius, Ideo voluit Jehova eos interficere, "Therefore Jehovah purposed to destroy them."

Reciprocal: Judges 20:13 - would not 1 Samuel 19:4 - sin against 2 Samuel 21:3 - wherewith 2 Chronicles 10:15 - the cause Job 9:33 - is there Proverbs 1:8 - hear Proverbs 13:1 - but Proverbs 29:1 - General Ecclesiastes 3:3 - time to kill Acts 24:10 - a judge 1 Corinthians 8:12 - when 1 John 5:16 - There

Cross-References

Genesis 2:10
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [branching] rivers.
Genesis 2:11
The first [river] is named Pishon; it flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of the two of them were opened [that is, their awareness increased], and they knew that they were naked; and they fastened fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Exodus 32:25
Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of mockery among their enemies—
Psalms 25:3
Indeed, none of those who [expectantly] wait for You will be ashamed; Those who turn away from what is right and deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed (humiliated, embarrassed).
Psalms 31:17
Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on You; Let the wicked (godless) be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).
Isaiah 44:9
All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.
Isaiah 47:3
"Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame will also be exposed; I will take vengeance and will spare no man."
Isaiah 54:4
"Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame, And do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, And you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.
Jeremiah 6:15
"Were they ashamed because they had committed disgusting and vile things? No, they were not at all ashamed; They did not even know how to blush [at their idolatry]. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them They will be overthrown," says the LORD.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, c. When one man does an injury to another in his person and property, the case is brought before the judge, he hears it, examines into it, and determines upon it, and does justice, orders that the injured person have satisfaction made him, and so the matter is ended:

but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? all sin is in some sense against God, as it is contrary to his nature, and a breach of his law, and especially bold, daring, presumptuous sins but there are some sins that are more immediately and particularly against God, as sins against the first table of the law, which relate to the worship of God, and such were the sins of Eli's sons in the affair of sacrifices; all sin against God is aggravated by the perfections of his nature, and made tremendous, as being against a God of strict justice, of unspotted purity and holiness, and who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; and by the relation and connection there is between God and men, he is their Creator and Preserver, the God of their lives and mercies, and of all the blessings they enjoy, and yet sin against him! who will entreat the favour of God for such persons, ask pardon for them, and beseech the Lord to be propitious and merciful to them? who on earth will do it? such persons are scarce and rare, few care to stand up in the gap between God and sinners; in some cases they ought not, in others they cannot. Eli suggests by this question, that he could not, even for his own sons; and who in heaven can or will do it? not saints departed, who know nothing of what is done below, nor angels, only the Lord Jesus Christ; he is the only Mediator between God and men, who has engaged his heart to approach unto God, and interpose between him and sinful men, and has made peace and reconciliation by his blood, and is become the propitiation for sin, and ever lives to make intercession for transgressors, and is always prevalent and successful in his mediation and intercession; excepting him, there is none to entreat for those that have sinned against the Lord, see 1 John 2:1. In answer to this question, who shall entreat for him? the Jews say x repentance and good works; but these are insufficient advocates for a sinner, without the atoning sacrifice of Christ, who is propitiation for sin, and upon which a plea can only be founded:

notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father; to his reproofs and counsels, his reasonings and expostulations; though his rebukes were so gentle, and this last reasoning of his so close and strong, so nervous and striking:

because the Lord would slay them; it was his purpose and decree, his will and pleasure, to cut them off for their wickedness; wherefore he gave them up to a judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, as he did Pharaoh, so that they were proof against all advice, admonitions, and arguments used with them: some choose to read the words, "therefore the Lord would slay them" y, because they were disobedient to the voice of their father; but the former sense is best; for his will to destroy them was not so much for their disregard to the reproofs of their father in which he himself was culpable, as for their breach of his laws.

x T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 87. 1. y כי "ideo", Noldius, p. 395. No. 1342. "idcirco vel quapropter", Quistorp, so Patrick.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The sense seems to be, If one man sin against another, the judge shall amerce him in the due penalty, and then he shall be free; but if he sin against the Lord, who shall act the part of judge and arbiter for him? His guilt must remain to the great day of judgment.

Because the Lord would slay them - There is a sense in which whatever comes to pass is the accomplishment of God’s sovereign will and pleasure, and all the previous steps, even when they involve moral causes, by which this will and pleasure are brought about, are in this sense also brought about by God. How this truth, which reason and revelation alike acknowledge, consists with man’s free will on the one hand; or, when the evil deeds and punishment of a sinner are some of the previous steps, with God’s infinite mercy and love on the other, is what cannot possibly be explained. We can only firmly believe both statements,

(1) that God hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, and that He willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live;

(2) that the sins and the punishments of sin are accomplishments of God’s eternal purpose (compare the marginal references, and Isaiah 6:9-10; Mark 4:12; Romans 9:15). It may be explained by saying that in the case of Hophni and Phinehas God’s will to kill them was founded upon His foreknowledge of their impenitence; while from another point of view, in which God’s will is the fixed point, that impenitence may be viewed in its relation to that fixed point, and so dependent upon it, and a necessary step to it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 2:25. If one man sin against another — All differences between man and man may be settled by the proper judge; but if a man sin against the Supreme Judge, God himself, who shall reconcile him to his Maker? Your sin is immediately against God himself, and is the highest insult that can be offered, because it is in the matter of his own worship, therefore ye may expect his heaviest judgments.

But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? — This was a question of the most solemn importance under the old covenant, especially after the death of Moses, the mediator. The law had determined what sins should be punished with death; and it was supposed that there was not any appeal from the decision there pronounced. 1 John 2:1 is an answer to this question; but it is an answer which the Gospel alone can give: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not; but if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Because the Lord would slay them. — The particle כי ki, which we translate because, and thus make their continuance in sin the effect of God's determination to destroy them, should be translated therefore, as it means in many parts of the sacred writings. See Noldius's Particles, where the very text in question is introduced: Sed non auscultarunt, c., IDEO voluit Jehova eos interficere "But they would not hearken, c. THEREFORE God purposed to destroy them." It was their not hearkening that induced the Lord to will their destruction.


 
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