Study Desk

Her husband Elkanah would ask her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

She was praying silently; her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk,

Don't think I am a worthless woman. I have been praying like this because I'm so miserable."

So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, "I asked the Lord for him."

Elkanah answered, "All right, do whatever you think best; stay at home until you have weaned him. And may the Lord make your promise come true." So Hannah stayed at home and nursed her child.

So I am dedicating him to the Lord . As long as he lives, he will belong to the Lord ." Then they worshiped the Lord there.

So he said to them, "Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing.

Listen, the time is coming when I will kill all the young men in your family and your clan, so that no man in your family will live to be old.

and ran to Eli and said, "You called me, and here I am." But Eli answered, "I didn't call you; go back to bed." So Samuel went back to bed.

The Lord called Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was the Lord , because the Lord had never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, "You called me, and here I am." But Eli answered, "My son, I didn't call you; go back to bed."

so he said to him, "Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord , your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went back to bed.

The Lord said to him, "Some day I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.

So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin."

So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, "He is the Lord ; he will do whatever seems best to him."

So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of the Lord .

At that time the Philistines gathered to go to war against Israel, so the Israelites set out to fight them. The Israelites set up their camp at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek.

When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, "Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us today? Let's go and bring the Lord 's Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that he will go with us and save us from our enemies."

So they sent messengers to Shiloh and got the Covenant Box of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with the Covenant Box.

Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men, or we will become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they were our slaves. So fight like men!"

When the man mentioned the Covenant Box, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck, and he died. He had been a leader in Israel for forty years.