1 Samuel 2 My heart was strengthened by the Lord; By my God, my horn was exalted; Over my enemies my mouth was enlarged; I was made glad by thy salvation.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ My heart was strengthened by the Lord; By my God, my horn was exalted; Over my enemies my mouth was enlarged; I was made glad by thy salvation. ² Because there is none holy like the Lord, And none is righteous like our God, There is none holy besides thee. ³ Boast not, nor speak haughtily, Let not arrogance proceed from your mouth. Because the Lord is a God of all knowledge; A God who prepareth his own designs; ⁴ The bow of the mighty he hath made weak. And the weak have girded themselves with strength: ⁵ They who were full of bread have been brought low; And they who were hungry have reached land. For she who was barren hath born seven children; And she who abounded in children hath been made weak. ⁶ The Lord killeth, and giveth life; He bringeth down to the grave, and raiseth up. ⁷ The Lord impoverished, and maketh rich; He humbleth, and he exalteth on high. ⁸ He lifteth up the needy from the ground; And raiseth the beggar from a dunghill; To seat them among a people's princes; And he causeth them to possess a throne of glory. ⁹ He granteth the petitioner his prayer, And hath blessed the years of the righteous; Because a man is not mighty in strength, ¹⁰ The Lord will make his adversary weak. Holy is the Lord. Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, Nor the mighty man boast of his power; Nor let the rich man boast of his riches: But let him who boasteth, boast of this; That the Lord understandeth, and knoweth, And that he executeth judgment and justice in the land. The Lord ascended up to heaven and thundered; He will judge the highest on earth: To our kings he giveth power, And he will exalt the horn of his anointed. ¹¹ So she left the child there before the Lord, and returned to Armathaim; and the child ministered in the presence of the Lord before Eli the spriest. ¹² Now the sons of Eli the priest were wicked men. They did not know the Lord; ¹³ nor what was the priest's due from the people; from all who offered a sacrifice; ¹⁴ but the servant of the priest would come when the flesh was boiling; and having a three pronged flesh fork in his hand, would strike it into the great cauldron, or into the brass kettle, or into the pot; and all that came up with the flesh fork the priest took for himself. In this manner they did to all the Israelites who came to sacrifice to the Lord at Selom. ¹⁵ And before the suet was burned, the priest's servant would come, and say to the man who was sacrificing, Give me flesh to roast for the priest, for I will not take boiled flesh from thee out of the kettle. ¹⁶ And if the man who was sacrificing said, Let the suet first be burned according to the ritual, then take for thyself any piece thy soul desireth; he would say, No; thou shalt give it me now. And if not; I will take it by force. ¹⁷ So that the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; because they set at naught the sacrifice of the Lord. ¹⁸ But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother made for him a little doublet, and brought it up for him every year, when she came up with her husband, to offer their annual sacrifice. ²⁰ Now Eli had blessed Elkana, and his wife saying, The Lord grant thee seed from this woman in return for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord. And when the man returned to his place ²¹ the Lord visited Anna, and she bore three sons more, and two daughters. But the lad Samuel grew up before the Lord. ²² Now Eli was very old; and when he heard what his sons did to the children of Israel, ²³ he said to them, Why do you act in the manner I hear from the mouth of all the people of the Lord? ²⁴ Do not so my sons; for the reports which I hear are not good, that the people cannot serve God. ²⁵ If one man sin against another, intercession can be made for him to the Lord; but if he sin against the Lord, who can intercede for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, wherefore the Lord determined to destroy them. ²⁶ But the child Samuel proceeded on, and was in favour with the Lord, and with men. ²⁷ And there came a man of God to Eli and said, Thus saith the Lord, I revealed myself clearly to the house of thy father, when they were servants to the house of Pharao, in the land of Egypt. ²⁸ And I chose the house of thy father out of all the sceptres of Israel, to serve me in the priest's office, to go up to my altar, and to burn incense, and wear an ephod; and I gave the house of thy father all the burnt offerings of the children of Israel for meat. ²⁹ Why then hast thou looked with an impudent eye on my incense offerings, and on my sacrifice of flour, and honoured thy sons above me, by indulging them with the dedicated part of every sacrifice of Israel, in preference to me? ³⁰ For this cause, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, I said, Thy house, and the house of thy father, shall go out before me for ever; but now the Lord saith, Far be this from me; for I will honour them only who honour me. And he who despiseth me shall be despised. ³¹ Behold the days are coming when I will root out thy seed, and the seed of thy father's house; ³² so that thou shalt not have an old man in thy house for ever. ³³ A chief man indeed for thee I will not cut off from my altar, that his eyes may fail and his soul melt; but all the rest of thy house shall fall by the sword of men. ³⁴ And this which shall come upon thy two sons, shall be a sign to thee. Ophni and Phineas shall both be put to death on the same day. ³⁵ And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do all that is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build for him a faithful house, and he shall go out before my anointed for ever. ³⁶ And it shall be, that he who is left in thy house, will come to bow down before him, for a piece of silver, saying, Put me into one of the priestly offices that I may eat bread.