1 Samuel 2:12

Bishop's Bible

But the sonnes of Eli were children of Belial, and knewe not the Lord.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Eli’s sons were wicked men; they did not respect the Lord

Hebrew Names Version
Now the sons of `Eli were base men; they didn't know the LORD.

King James Version
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord .

Lexham English Bible
Now the sons of Eli were worthless scoundrels; they did not know Yahweh.

English Standard Version
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord .

New Century Version
Now Eli's sons were evil men; they did not care about the Lord .

New English Translation
The sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not recognize the Lord 's authority.

Amplified Bible
The sons of Eli [Hophni and Phinehas] were worthless (dishonorable, unprincipled) men; they did not know [nor respect] the LORD

New American Standard Bible
Now the sons of Eli were useless men; they did not know the LORD.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now the sonnes of Eli were wicked men, and knewe not the Lord.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now the sons of Eli were vile men; they did not know Yahweh.

Contemporary English Version
Eli's sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the Lord . So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork.

Complete Jewish Bible
‘Eli's sons were scoundrels who had no regard for Adonai .

Darby Translation
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah.

Easy-to-Read Version
Eli's sons were evil men who did not care about the Lord .

George Lamsa Translation
Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they did not know the LORD.

Good News Translation
The sons of Eli were scoundrels. They paid no attention to the Lord

Literal Translation
And the sons of Eli were sons of worthlessness; they did not know Jehovah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But Elis sonnes were the childre of Belial, and knewe not the LORDE,

American Standard Version
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English
Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not the LORD.

King James Version (1611)
Now the sonnes of Eli were sonnes of Belial, they knewe not the Lord.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the sons of Heli the priest were evil sons, not knowing the Lord.

English Revised Version
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible
Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe the sones of Hely weren sones of Belial,

Young's Literal Translation
and the sons of Eli [are] sons of worthlessness, they have not known Jehovah.

Update Bible Version
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn't know Yahweh.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now the sons of Eli [were] sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

World English Bible
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn't know Yahweh.

New King James Version
Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; [fn] they did not know the Lord.

New Living Translation
Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord

New Life Bible
The sons of Eli were men of no worth. They did not know the Lord.

New Revised Standard
Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, the sons of Eli, were abandoned men, - they knew not Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now the sons of Heli were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord,

Revised Standard Version
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they had no regard for the LORD.

THE MESSAGE
Eli's own sons were a bad lot. They didn't know God and could not have cared less about the customs of priests among the people. Ordinarily, when someone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant was supposed to come up and, while the meat was boiling, stab a three-pronged fork into the cooking pot. The priest then got whatever came up on the fork. But this is how Eli's sons treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to God . Before they had even burned the fat to God , the priest's servant would interrupt whoever was sacrificing and say, "Hand over some of that meat for the priest to roast. He doesn't like boiled meat; he likes his rare." If the man objected, "First let the fat be burned—God's portion!—then take all you want," the servant would demand, "No, I want it now. If you won't give it, I'll take it." It was a horrible sin these young servants were committing—and right in the presence of God !—desecrating the holy offerings to God .

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD

Contextual Overview

¹¹ And Elkana went to Ramath to his house, and the lad dyd minister vnto the Lorde before Eli the priest. ¹² But the sonnes of Eli were children of Belial, and knewe not the Lord. ¹³ And the priestes custome toward the people was, that whensoeuer any man offered any offring, ye priestes lad came whyle the fleshe was a seethyng, and a fleshhoke with three teeth in his hande: ¹⁴ And thrust it into the panne, kettle, caldren, or pot: and all that the fleshehoke brought vp, that the priest toke for hym self: And so they dyd vnto all the Israelites that came thyther to Silo. ¹⁵ Yea, and thereto before they burnt the fat, the priestes lad came and sayde to the man that offered, Geue fleshe, that I may roste it for the priest: for he wyll not haue sodde fleshe of thee, but rawe. ¹⁶ And yf any man sayde vnto hym, Let them burne the fat according to the custome, and then take as much as thyne hearte desireth: Then he would aunswere hym, Yea, thou shalt geue it me nowe: and if thou wilt not, I wyll take it with violence. ¹⁷ And the sinne of the young men was very great before the Lord: For men abhorred the offering of the Lord. ¹⁸ But the childe Samuel ministred before the Lorde, girded with a linnen Ephod. ¹⁹ Moreouer, his mother made him a litle coate, and brought it to him from yere to yere, when she came vp with her husband to offer the yerely sacrifice. ²⁰ And Eli blessed Elkana and his wife, and said: The Lorde geue thee seede of this woman, for the petition that she asked of the Lord. And they went vnto their owne home.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the sons: Hosea 4:6-9, Malachi 2:1-9

sons of Belial: 1 Samuel 10:27, 1 Samuel 25:17, Deuteronomy 13:13, Judges 19:22, 1 Kings 21:10, 1 Kings 21:13, 2 Corinthians 6:15

knew: 1 Samuel 3:7, Judges 2:10, Jeremiah 2:8, Jeremiah 22:16, John 8:55, John 16:3, John 17:3, Romans 1:21, Romans 1:28-30

Reciprocal: Exodus 5:2 - I know not Numbers 17:10 - rebels 1 Samuel 1:3 - And the 1 Samuel 1:16 - a daughter 1 Samuel 3:13 - his sons 1 Samuel 4:4 - Hophni 2 Samuel 16:7 - man of Belial 2 Samuel 20:1 - a man 2 Samuel 23:6 - the sons Job 18:21 - knoweth Isaiah 56:11 - they are Jeremiah 9:3 - they know Jeremiah 31:34 - Know the Ezekiel 22:26 - priests Hosea 5:4 - and Nahum 1:11 - wicked counsellor Zephaniah 3:4 - her priests John 7:28 - whom Romans 16:18 - but 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - that know

Cross-References

Exodus 28:20
In the fourth a Turcas, an Onyx, and a Iaspis: and they shalbe set in golde in their inclosers.

Exodus 39:13
In the fourth rowe, a Turcas, an Onyx, and a Iaspis: and they were closed in ouches of golde in their inclosers.

Numbers 11:7
The Manna was as coriander seede, and to see to lyke Bedellion.

Job 28:16
No wedges of gold of Ophir, no precious Onix stones, no Saphires may be valued with her.

Ezekiel 28:13
Thou hast ben in the pleasaunt garden of God, thou art deckt with all maner of precious stones, with ruby, topas, diamond, thurkis, onyx, iasper, saphir, emeralde, carbuncle, and golde: the workemanship of thy timbrels and of thy pipes [that be] in thee, was prepared in the day that thou wast created.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial,.... Not that Eli their father was Belial, a wicked man; but though they had so good a father, they were very wicked men, unprofitable abandoned wretches, that cast off the yoke of the law of God, and gave themselves up to all manner of wickedness:

they knew not the Lord; not that they had no knowledge of God in theory, or were real atheists, but they were so practically; they denied him in works, they had no love to him, nor fear of him, and departed from his ways and worship, as much as if they were entirely ignorant of him; so the Targum,

"they did not know to fear before the Lord,''

or serve him; or, as Kimchi,

"they did not know the way of the Lord,''

that is, practically.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sons of Belial - See the marginal reference note. The phrase is very frequent in the books of Samuel. In the New Testament, Paul contrasts Christ and Belial, as if Belial were the name of an idol or the personification of evil 2 Corinthians 6:15. This probably led to the use of the term “Belial” in the the King James Version, instead of expressing its meaning, which is “mischief, wickedness.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 2:12. The sons of Eli were sons of Belial — They were perverse, wicked, profligate men; devil's children. They knew not the Lord.

"THEY know! nor would an angel show Him;

They would not know, nor choose to know Him."

These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct, described 1 Samuel 2:13-17, caused the people to abhor the Lord's offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation; witness France, Germany, Spain, Ac., from 1792 to 1814.