Study Desk

The man Elkana, and all his house, went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.

Elkana her husband said to her, Do what seems you good; wait until you have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail.

Those who strive with the LORD shall be broken to pieces; Against them will he thunder in the sky: The LORD will judge the ends of the eretz; He will give strength to his king, Exalt the horn of his anointed.

Elkana went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to the LORD before `Eli the Kohen.

The custom of the Kohanim with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the Kohen's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;

Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

`Eli blessed Elkana and his wife, and said, the LORD give you seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of the LORD. They went to their own home.

Now `Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Yisra'el, and how that they lay with the women who served at the door of the tent of meeting.

It happened at that time, when `Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see),

Therefore `Eli said to Shemu'el, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call you, that you shall say, Speak, the LORD; for your servant hears. So Shemu'el went and lay down in his place.

In that day I will perform against `Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse on themselves, and he didn't restrain them.

Shemu'el grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

The Pelishtim fought, and Yisra'el was struck, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Yisra'el thirty thousand footmen.

There ran a man of Binyamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with dirt on his head.

When he came, behold, `Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.

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

It happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [`Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Yisra'el forty years.

His daughter-in-law, Pinechas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her.