1 Samuel 2:5-15

5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. ¹The barren has borne seven, ²but she who has many children is forlorn.

6 ³The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

7 ⁴The LORD makes poor and makes rich; ⁵he brings low and he exalts.

8 ⁶He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap ⁷to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. ⁸For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.

9 ⁹"He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

10 ¹⁰The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; ¹¹against them he will thunder in heaven. ¹²The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king ¹³and exalt the power^[a] of his anointed."

11 Then Elkanah went home ¹⁴to Ramah. ¹⁵And the boy ministered to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.

Eli's Worthless Sons

12 Now the sons of Eli were ¹⁶worthless men. ¹⁷They did not know the LORD.

13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant^[b] would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,

14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15 Moreover, ¹⁸before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw."

Read Chapter Compare

Images for 1 Samuel 2:5-15

1 Samuel 2:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2

In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, 1Sa 2:1-10, and an account is given of the return of Elkanah and Hannah to their own home, and of the care she took yearly to provide a coat for Samuel, and of her being blessed with many other children, and of the growth and ministry of Samuel before the Lord, 1Sa 2:11,18-21,26, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, 1Sa 2:12-17, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, 1Sa 2:22-25 and of a sharp message sent him from the Lord on that account, threatening destruction to his house, of which the death of his two sons would be a sign, 1Sa 2:27-36.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 18

1. Psalms 113:9; Isaiah 54:1
2. Jeremiah 15:9
3. Deuteronomy 32:39
4. [Job 1:21]
5. Job 5:11; Psalms 75:7
6. Psalms 113:7, 8; [Daniel 4:17; Luke 1:52]
7. Job 36:7
8. [Job 38:4-6; Psalms 24:2; Psalms 102:25; Psalms 104:5]
9. Psalms 121:3; Proverbs 3:26; [Psalms 91:11]
10. Psalms 2:9
11. 1 Samuel 7:10; Psalms 18:13; [2 Samuel 22:14]
12. Psalms 96:10, 13; Psalms 98:9
13. ver. 1; [Psalms 89:24]
14. 1 Samuel 1:19
15. ver. 18; 1 Samuel 3:1
16. See 1 Samuel 1:16
17. Judges 2:10
18. Leviticus 3:5, 16; Leviticus 7:23, 25, 31

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hebrew horn
[b]. Hebrew young man; also verse 15

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.