1 Samuel 2:12

King James Version

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew 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.

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.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But the sonnes of Eli were children of Belial, and knewe not 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 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. ¹² Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord . ¹³ And the priest's custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; ¹⁴ And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. ¹⁵ Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. ¹⁶ And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. ¹⁷ Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord : for men abhorred the offering of the Lord . ¹⁸ But Samuel ministered before the Lord , being a child, girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord . And they went unto their own 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
And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.

Exodus 39:13
And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings.

Numbers 11:7
And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

Job 28:16
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

Ezekiel 28:13
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee 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.