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Then Elka'nah went home to Ramah. And the boy ministered to the LORD, in the presence of Eli the priest.
12
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they had no regard for the LORD.
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The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,
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and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. So they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
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Moreover, before 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 raw."
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And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish," he would say, "No, you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force."
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Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD; for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
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Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy girded with a linen ephod.
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And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
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Then Eli would bless Elka'nah and his wife, and say, "The LORD give you children by this woman for the loan which she lent to the LORD"; so then they would return to their home.
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And the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.