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¹ AND Hannah prayed and said, My heart is magnified in the LORD, my horn is exalted in my God; my mouth utters words against my enemies, because thou hast caused me to rejoice in thy salvation.² There is none holy like the LORD; for there is none besides thee; and there is none powerful like our God.³ Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouths; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and no devices can stand before him.⁴ The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that are weak are girded with strength.⁵ Those who were full have hired out themselves for bread; and those who were hungry have food left over; the barren has given birth and is satisfied; and she who has many children is lonely.⁶ It is the LORD who makes men to die and makes alive; he brings down to Sheol and brings up.⁷ The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he also exalts.⁸ He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the dung-hill, to set them with the princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory; for the depths of the earth are protected by the LORD, and he has set the world upon them.⁹ He will guard the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for not by his own strength shall a mighty man prevail.¹⁰ The LORD shall defeat his adversaries; out of heaven shall he thunder against them; the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.

¹¹ And Hilkanah and his wife Hannah returned to Ramtha to his house. And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.¹² Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they did not know the LORD.¹³ They took the dues of the priests from the people, of every man who offered a sacrifice; and they made for themselves meat-forks with three prongs, and the priests servant came, while the meat was boiling, with the three-pronged fork in his hand,¹⁴ And he thrust it into the pot or caldron or pan or kettle; all that the meat-fork brought up the priest took for himself. Thus they did to all the Israelites who came thither to Shiloh.¹⁵ Also before they burnt the sacrifices, the priests servant came and said to the man who was sacrificing, Give meat to roast for the priest; for I will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.¹⁶ And if the man said to him, They will surely offer sacrifices today, and then take for yourself as much as you wish; then he would say, No; you shall give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.¹⁷ Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD; because they offended the men who offered before the LORD.¹⁸ But the boy Samuel ministered before the LORD, and he wore a linen ephod.¹⁹ And his mother made him a little mantle, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifices of his vow.²⁰ And Eli blessed Hilkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give you another offspring from this woman for the child which she has dedicated to the LORD. And they went to their own home.²¹ And the LORD blessed Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.²² Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel; and how they reviled the women who prayed in the tabernacle of the congregation.²³ And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear evil reports about you from all this people.²⁴ No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear; for you drive away the people of the LORD.²⁵ 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.²⁶ And the boy Samuel grew up, and was in favor both with the LORD and also with men.

²⁷ And there came a man of the LORD to Eli, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, I did surely reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh;²⁸ And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense before me, and to wear an ephod; and I gave to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel.²⁹ Why then do you deal wrongly with my sacrifices and my offerings, which I have commanded in the wilderness; and honor your sons above me, to choose the choicest of all the offerings of Israel my people?³⁰ Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel, I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should minister before me for ever; but now the LORD says, Far be this from me; for those that honor me I will honor, and those that despise me shall be despised.³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your offspring and the offspring of your father, that there shall not be an old man in your house,³² Nor him that bears rule in your habitation, in all the prosperity which God shall bring in Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house for ever.³³ And a man of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to sadden you and to grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age.³⁴ And this shall be a sign to you that shall come upon your two sons, upon Hophni and upon Phinehas; both of them shall die on the same day.³⁵ And I will raise me up a faithful priest, according to the choice of my heart, who shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house: and he shall walk before my anointed for ever.³⁶ And it shall come to pass that every one who is left in your house shall come to bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Send me to one of the priests, that I may eat a piece of bread.