1 Samuel 2:27-36

The Lord Rejects Eli’s Household

27 And there came ¹a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ²‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?

28 ³Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ⁴to wear an ephod before me? ⁵I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.

29 Why then do you ⁶scorn^[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel? ’

30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ⁷‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever, ’ ⁸but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

31 Behold, ⁹the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

32 Then ¹⁰in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ¹¹and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men. ^[d]

34 ¹²And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ¹³on the same day.

35 ¹⁴And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ¹⁵And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ¹⁶my anointed forever.

36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread. ”’”

1 Samuel 2:27-36 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2:27 1 Kgs. 13:1
• 2. 2:27 [Ex. 3–12]
• 3. 2:28 Ex. 28:1; Num. 18:1, 7
• 4. 2:28 [ch. 14:3; 22:18]
• 5. 2:28 Lev. 2:3, 10; 6:16; 7:7, 8, 34; 10:14, 15; Num. 5:9, 10; See Num. 18:8-19
• 6. 2:29 Deut. 32:15
• 7. 2:30 Ex. 27:21; 29:9
• 8. 2:30 [Jer. 18:9, 10]
• 9. 2:31 1 Kgs. 2:27; [ch. 4:11, 18, 20; 22:18, 19]
• 10. 2:32 ch. 4:11; [Judg. 18:30]; See Ps. 78:59-64
• 11. 2:32 [Zech. 8:4]
• 12. 2:34 1 Kgs. 13:3
• 13. 2:34 ch. 4:11
• 14. 2:35 1 Kgs. 2:35; 1 Chr. 29:22
• 15. 2:35 ch. 25:28; 1 Kgs. 11:38; [2 Sam. 7:11, 27]
• 16. 2:35 2 Sam. 22:51; Ps. 18:50; [Ps. 89:20]

Footnotes

• [a] 2:29 Hebrew 'kick at'
• [b] 2:33 Septuagint; Hebrew 'your'; twice in this verse
• [c] 2:33 Hebrew 'increase'
• [d] 2:33 Septuagint; Hebrew 'die as men'