8 9 10 11 12 He humbleth, and he exalteth on high. And hath blessed the years of the righteous; The Lord will make his adversary weak. Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, And that he executeth judgment and justice in the land. He will judge the highest on earth: To our kings he giveth power, And he will exalt the horn of his anointed. 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 priest. Now the sons of Eli the priest were wicked men. They did not know the Lord; nor what was the priest's due from 13 the people-from all who offered a sacrifice; but the servant of 14 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 sacri15 fice to the Lord at Selom. 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 16 take boiled flesh from thee out of the kettle. 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 17 not; I will take it by force. So that the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; because they set at 18 naught the sacrifice of the Lord. But Samuel ministered be19 fore the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod. 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 20 their annual sacrifice. Now Eli had blessed Elkana, and his wife saying, The Lord grant thee seed from this woman in re21 turn for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord. And when the man returned to his place 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 23 did to the children of Israel, he said to them, Why do you act in the manner I hear from the mouth of all the people of 24 the Lord? Do not so my sons; for the reports which I hear 25 are not good, that the people cannot serve God. 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, where26 fore the Lord determined to destroy them. But the child Samuel proceeded on, and was in favour with the Lord, and with 27 men. 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 28 land of Egypt. 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 29 children of Israel for meat. 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 prefer30 ence to me? 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 31 me; for I will honour them only who honour me. And he who despiseth me shall be despised. Behold the days are com ing when I will root out thy seed, and the seed of thy father's house; so that thou shalt not have an old man in thy house 33 for ever. 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 34 the rest of thy house shall fall by the sword of men. 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 36 ever. 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. III. Now when the child Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli the priest (in those days the word of the Lord was 2 precious-there was no distinct vision) it came to pass at that time, when Eli was sleeping in his place, his eyes having then 3 begun to be heavy, so that he could not see, and before the lamp of God was replenished, and Samuel was sleeping at the temple, where the ark of God was, the Lord called, Samuel! Samuel! 4 Whereupon he said, Here I am, and ran to Eli, and said, Here! 5 am, for thou didst call me. And he said, I did not call thee. Re6 turn, and go to sleep. So he returned and went to sleep. And the Lord again called Samuel! Samuel! Whereupon he went to Eli, a second time, and said, Here I am; for thou didst call me. And 7 he said I did not call thee, Return, and go to sleep. Thus before Samuel knew God, or the word of the Lord was revealed to him, 8 the Lord proceeded to call Samuel the third time; whereupon Samuel arose, and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou 9 didst call me. Then Eli conjectured that the Lord had called him; therefore he said, Return my son, and go to sleep, and if he call thee thou shalt say, Speak, for thy servant heareth 10 So Samuel went, and lay down in his place, and the Lori came, and stood over against him, and called him as before. 11 And Samuel said, Speak for thy servant heareth. Then the Lord said to Samuel, Behold I am about to execute my words in Is rael, at which both the ears of every one who heareth them shall 12 tingle. In that day I will bring upon Eli all that I have spoke 13 against his house, I will begin and completely finish. I have indeed told him that I will take vengeance on his house for ever, for the iniquities of his sons. Because his sons spoke ༔ 14 evil of God, and he did not chastise them, therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall 15 not be expiated with incense or sacrifices for ever. And Samuel lay till the morning, and arose early in the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but was afraid to $16 tell the vision. Then Eli said to Samuel, Samuel, my son! 17 And he said, Here I am. And he said, What was the word spoken to thee? Hide it not from me, I pray thee. God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me, of all 18 that was spoken to thee in thy hearing. Then Samuel told him all the words. He did not hide any thing from him. Whereupon Eli said, He is the Lord. He will do what is good in his sight. 19 And Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, so that 20 not one of his words fell to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan to Bersabee, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of 21 the Lord. And the Lord continued to manifest himself at Se lom; for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel, and it was confidently believed that Samuel would be the prophet of the Lord to all Israel, from one end of the land to the other. IV. Now Eli was very old, and his sons continued their courses. And their way was evil in the sight of the Lord. And in those days the Philistines assembled for war against Israel; and Israel went out to meet them for battle, and encamped at 2 Abenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. And the Philistines drew up in array for battle against Israel, and the battle was unfavourable; for Israel gave way before the Philistines, and there were smitten in the engagement, on the field 3 of battle, four thousand men. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why hath the Lord caused us this day to shrink before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of our God from Selom, and let it go forth from the midst 4 of us, and it will save us out of the hands of our enemies. So the people sent to Selom, and brought thence the ark of the Lord who is enthroned on the cherubim. And both the sons of Eli, 5 Ophni and Phineas, went with the ark. And when the ark of the Lord came to the camp, all Israel shouted with a great 6 shout, and the earth resounded. Upon hearing the noise of the shouting, the Philistines said, What great shouting is this in 7 the camp of the Hebrews? And when they understood that the ark of the Lord was come to the camp, the Philistines were struck with terror, and said, The gods are come to them into the camp. Alas for us? Deliver us, O Lord, this day! for such a 8 thing hath never been done heretofore. Alas for us! Who can deliver us out of the hands of these strong gods? These are the gods who continued smiting Egypt with every plague: and 9 in the wilderness-Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O Philistines, that you may not become slaves to the Hebrews, as 10 they have been to us. Quit yourselves like men, and fight them. So they fought them, and Israel gave way, and fled every man to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter; 11 and there fell of Israel thirty thousand warriors. And the ark of God was taken, and Ophni and Phineas, the two sons of Eli, 12 were both slain. And there ran a Jeminite from the battle, and came to Selom the same day, with his clothes rent and dust 13 on his head. And when he came, lo! Eli was sitting on his seat, by the gate, watching the way; for his heart trembled 14 for the ark of God. And when the man went into the city, and told the news, the city raised a cry. And upon hearing the sound of the cry, Eli said, What noise of crying is this? Then 15 the man came in haste, and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety years of age, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see. And just as Eli said to the men who stood round him, What 16 noise of crying is this? The man came in haste to Eli, and said to him, I am he who came the from army, and fled to-day 17 from the engagement. Whereupon Eli said, What was the issue, my son? And the young man in reply, said, Israel fled before the face of the Philistines, and there was a great slaughter among the people, and both thy sons are dead, and the ark 18 of God is taken. Soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat by the gate, and his back was broken, and he died; for he was an old man and heavy. Now 19 he had judged Israel twenty years. And when his daughter in law, the wife of Phineas, who was with child, heard the news, that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she burst into tears and travailed, for 20 her pains came upon her. And when she was at the point of death, the women who attended her, said, Fear not, for thou |