Study Desk

The family got up early the next morning, worshiped before the LORD, and returned to their home in Ramah. Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her [prayer].

Then the man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.

Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish and confirm His word." So the woman remained [behind] and nursed her son until she weaned him.

"He guards the feet of His godly (faithful) ones, But the wicked ones are silenced and perish in darkness; For a man shall not prevail by might.

"The adversaries of the LORD will be broken to pieces; He will thunder against them in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn (strength) of His anointed."

Elkanah [and his wife Hannah] returned to Ramah to his house. But the child [Samuel] served the LORD under the guidance of Eli the priest.

and the custom of the priests with [the sacrifices of] the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged [meat] fork in his hand;

Moreover, his mother would make him a little robe and would bring it up to him each year when she came 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 in place of the one she asked for which was dedicated to the LORD." Then they would return to their own home.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard about everything that his sons were doing to all [the people of] Israel, and how they were lying with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

Yet it happened at that time, as Eli was lying down in his own place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well).

So Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and it shall be that if He calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

"On that day I will carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken concerning his house (family), from beginning to end.

"Now I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the sinful behavior which he knew [was happening], because his sons were bringing a curse on themselves [dishonoring and blaspheming God] and he did not rebuke them.

Now Samuel grew; and the LORD was with him and He let none of his words fail [to be fulfilled].

So the Philistines fought; Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. It was a very great defeat, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

Now a man [from the tribe] of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head [as signs of mourning over the disaster].

When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, keeping watch, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God. When the man arrived to report [the news] in the city, everyone in the city cried out [to God, for help].

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

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backwards by the side of the [city] gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.