And Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
[Those who were] full have hired themselves out for bread, And the hungry have ceased [to hunger.] Even the barren has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble.
He raises the poor from the dust [And] lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set [them] among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth [are] the LORD's, And He has set the world upon them.
The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed."
And the priests' custom with the people [was that] when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling.
Then he would thrust [it] into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, "Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw."
And [if] the man said to him, "They should really burn the fat first; [then] you may take [as much] as your heart desires," he would then answer him, "[No,] but you must give [it] now; and if not, I will take [it] by force."
Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring [it] to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the LORD." Then they would go to their own home.
Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
"If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.
Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
'Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel [to be] My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded [in My] dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?'
"Therefore the LORD God of Israel says: 'I said indeed [that] your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.' But now the LORD says: 'Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
'And you will see an enemy [in My] dwelling place, [despite] all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
'But any of your men [whom] I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
'Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest [who] shall do according to what [is] in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
'And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house will come [and] bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, "Please, put me in one of the priestly positions, that I may eat a piece of bread." ' "