Study Desk

Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.

"Oh no, sir!" she replied. "I haven't been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord .

But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, "Wait until the boy is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the Lord permanently."

The Lord gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.

"He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.

The man offering the sacrifice might reply, "Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first." Then the servant would demand, "No, give it to me now, or I'll take it by force."

But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord . He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.

Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

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.

"Therefore, the Lord , the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.

You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days.

The few not cut off from serving at my altar will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break, and their children will die a violent death.

But Eli called out to him, "Samuel, my son." "Here I am," Samuel replied.

She died in childbirth, but before she passed away the midwives tried to encourage her. "Don't be afraid," they said. "You have a baby boy!" But she did not answer or pay attention to them.

But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord ! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again.

But the next morning the same thing happened—Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact.

But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord 's heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic.

So they sent the Ark of God to the town of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, "They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!"

"Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just given birth to calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen.