1 Samuel 3:12

12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken against his household, {from beginning to end}.

1 Samuel 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 3:12

In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have
spoken concerning his house
Or family, that is, by the man of God, ( 1 Samuel 2:27 ) as that he would cut off the strength of it, that there should not be an old man in it; and such as remained should be reduced to the utmost poverty and meanness; this shows that that prophecy was antecedent to this, contrary to the sense of some:

when I begin, I will also make an end;
not immediately, and at once, but by degrees; he began in the death of Hophni and Phinehas, and went on in the slaughter of Abimelech, and the eighty five priests at Nob, in the times of Saul, and finished in the thrusting out of Abiathar from the priesthood, in the times of Solomon, whereby that family was brought to disgrace and poverty.

1 Samuel 3:12 In-Context

10 Then Yahweh came and stood [there] and called out {as before}, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, because your servant [is] listening."

11 So Yahweh said to Samuel, "Look, I am doing something in Israel {which will cause} the two ears of everyone who hears it to tingle.

12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken against his household, {from beginning to end}.

13 I will make him know that I am about to judge his household forever because of the iniquity that he knew, for his sons [were] bringing curses on themselves, but he did not rebuke them.

14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli [that] the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be atoned for by sacrifice or by offering forever."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "begin and finish"