1 Samuel 2:25

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.

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.

Amplified Bible
"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.

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.

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

¹¹ Then went Elkanah to Ramah, unto his own house, - but, the boy, remained ministering unto Yahweh, before Eli the priest. ¹² Now, the sons of Eli, were abandoned men, - they knew not Yahweh. ¹³ And, the custom of the priests with the people, was - when any man offered a sacrifice, then would come the priests young man, as the flesh was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand; ¹⁴ and would strike it into the boiler, or into the trough, or into the kettle, or into the pot, all that the fork would bring up, the priest took for himself. Thus and thus, used they to do unto all Israel, who came thither, in Shiloh. ¹⁵ Also, before any could make perfume with the fat, the priests young man would come in and say to the person who was sacrificing, Come! give flesh for the priest's roastings, - for he will not take of thee boiled flesh - only raw. ¹⁶ And, if the man said to him, Let them at least, make incense, at once with the fat, then take thou as much as thy soul craveth, Then said he to him, But, at once, shalt thou give it; or else, I will take it by force. ¹⁷ And so it was, that, the sin of the young men, was exceeding great, before Yahweh, - for men scorned the offerings of Yahweh. ¹⁸ But, as for Samuel, he was ministering before Yahweh, - a boy girded with an ephod of linen. ¹⁹ Also, a little robe, used his mother to make for him, and bring it up to him, from year to year, - when she came up with her husband, to offer the sacrifice of the year. ²⁰ And Eli used to bless Elkanah and his wife, and to say - Yahweh give thee seed of this woman, instead of the loan that hath been lent unto Yahweh. So they went their way to his own place.

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, was coming forth out of Eden, to water the garden, - and, from thence, it parted, and became four heads,

Genesis 2:11
The name of the one, is Pishon, - the same, is that which surroundeth all the land of Havilah, where is gold;

Genesis 3:7
Then were opened the eyes of them both, and they knew that, naked, they were, - so they tacked together fig-leaves, and made for themselves girdles,

Exodus 32:25
And Moses saw the people, that unbridled, they were, - for Aaron had given them the rein, for a whispering, among their enemies.

Psalms 25:3
Yea let, none who wait for thee, be put to shame, Let them be put to shame who act covertly without cause!

Psalms 31:17
O Yahweh! let me not be ashamed, For I have called upon thee, Let the lawless ha ashamed, go down in silence to hades!

Isaiah 44:9
The fashioners of an image - all of them, are emptiness, And, the things they delight in, cannot profit, - And, their, witnesses, they, neither see nor know, That they may be ashamed.

Isaiah 47:3
Bared shall be thy shame, Yea seen thy reproach, - An avenging, will I take, And will accept no son of earth.

Isaiah 54:4
Do not fear for thou shalt not turn pale, Neither feel disgraced for thou shalt not be put to the blush, - For, the shame of thy youth, shalt thou forget, And the reproach of thy widowhood, shalt thou remember no more;

Jeremiah 6:15
Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done! Nay! they did not, at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how, to exhibit shame, Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.

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.