Study Desk

"He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."

The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,

And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the Lord give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the Lord ." So then they would return to their home.

Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place.

Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord , for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.

And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.

When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her.

And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord . So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.

But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord , and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.