1 Kingdoms 2

¹ My heart is established in the Lord,

my horn is exalted in my God;

my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies,

I have rejoiced in thy salvation.

² For there is none holy as the Lord,

and there is none righteous as our God:

there is none holy besides thee.

³ Boast not, and utter not high things;

let not high-sounding words come out of your mouth,

for the Lord is a God of knowledge,

and God prepareth his own designs.

⁴ The bow of the mighty hath waxed feeble,

and the weak have girded themselves with strength.

⁵ They that were full of bread are brought low;

and the hungry have forsaken the land;

for the barren hath borne seven,

and she that abounded in children hath waxed feeble.

⁶ The Lord killeth and maketh alive;

he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

⁷ The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich;

he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

⁸ He lifteth up the poor from the earth,

and raiseth the needy from the dunghill;

to seat him with the princes of the people,

and causing them to inherit the throne of glory:

⁹ granting his petition to him that prayeth;

and he blesseth the years of the righteous,

for by strength cannot man prevail.

¹⁰ The Lord will weaken his adversary;

the Lord is holy.

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,

nor let the mighty man boast in his strength,

and let not the rich man boast in his wealth;

but let him that boasteth boast in this,

to understand and know the Lord,

^[1]and to execute judgment and justice in the midst of the earth.

The Lord hath gone up to the heavens, and hath thundered:

he will judge the extremities of the earth,

and he giveth strength to our kings,

and will exalt the horn of his Christ.

And she left him there before the Lord, ¹¹ and departed to Armathaim: and the child ministered in the presence of the Lord before Heli the priest. ¹² And the sons of Heli the priest were evil sons, not knowing the Lord. ¹³ And the priest’s claim from every one of the people that sacrificed was this: the servant of the priest came when the flesh was in seething, and a flesh-hook of three teeth was in his hand. ¹⁴ And he struck it into the great cauldron, or into the brazen vessel, or into the pot, and whatever came up with the flesh-hook, the priest took for himself: so they did to all Israel that came to sacrifice to the Lord in Selom. ¹⁵ And before the fat was burnt for a sweet savour, the servant of the priest would come, and say to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and I will by no means take of thee seethed flesh out of the cauldron. ¹⁶ And if the man that sacrificed said, First let the fat be burned, as it is fit, and take for thyself of all things which thy soul desireth: then he would say, Nay, for thou shalt give it me now; and if not, I will take it by force. ¹⁷ So the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for they set at nought the offering of the Lord.

¹⁸ And Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girt with a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother made him a little doublet, and brought it to him from ^[2]year to year, in her going up in company with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ And Heli blessed Helcana and his wife, saying, The Lord recompense to thee seed of this woman, in return for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord: and the man returned to his place.

²¹ And the Lord visited Hannah, and she bare yet three sons, and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.

²² And Heli was very old, and he heard what his sons did to the children of Israel. ²³ And he said to them, Why do ye according to this thing, which I hear from the mouth of all the people of the Lord? ²⁴ Nay my sons, for the report which I hear is not good; do not so, for ^[3]the reports which I hear are not good, so that the people do not serve God. ²⁵ If a man should at all sin against another, then shall they pray for him to the Lord; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would by all means destroy them. ²⁶ And the child Samuel advanced, and ^[4]was in favour with God and with men.

²⁷ And a man of God came to Heli, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I plainly revealed myself to the house of thy father, when they were servants in Egypt to the house of Pharaoh. ²⁸ And I chose the house of thy father out of all the tribes of Israel to minister to me in the priest’s office, to go up to mine altar, and to burn incense, and to wear an ephod. And I gave to the house of thy father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel for food. ²⁹ And wherefore hast thou looked upon mine incense offering and my meat offering with a shameless eye, and hast honoured thy sons above me, so that they should bless themselves with the first-fruits of every sacrifice of Israel before me? ³⁰ Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I said, Thy house and the house of thy father shall pass before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, That be far from me; for I will only honour them that honour me, and he that setteth me at nought shall be despised.

³¹ Behold, the days come when I will destroy thy seed and the seed of thy father’s house. ³² And thou shalt not have an old man in my house for ever. ³³ And if I do not destroy a man of thine from mine altar, it shall be that his eyes may fail and his soul may perish; and every one that remaineth in thy house shall fall by the sword of men. ³⁴ And this which shall come upon thy two sons Ophni and Phineas shall be a sign to thee; in one day they shall both die. ³⁵ And I will raise up to myself a faithful priest, who shall do all that is in my heart and in my soul; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before my Christ for ever. ³⁶ And it shall come to pass that he that surviveth in thy house, shall come to do obeisance before him for a little piece of silver, ^[5]and for a piece of bread, saying, ^[6]Put me into one of thy priests’ offices to eat bread.

Notes

2:10 and to execute: perhaps and the Lord executeth, etc. Compare Jer. 9:24 ↩
2:19 year to year: lit. days to days ↩
2:24 the reports which I hear are not good, so that the people do not serve God: or, the reports which I hear of the people not serving, etc. Compare 1 Chr. 13:4 ↩
2:26 was in favour: Gr. was good ↩
2:36 and for a piece of bread: Vat. omits ↩
2:36 Put: Gr. cast ↩