ELI


Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New 
York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

1SA 1:14  and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get 
rid of your wine."

17  Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what 
you have asked of him."

18  She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her 
way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

24  After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along 
with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and 
brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

25  When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli,

26  and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman 
who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

27  I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of 
him.

28  So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over 
to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.

2:11  Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the 
LORD under Eli the priest.

20  Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, "May the LORD give you 
children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave 
to the LORD." Then they would go home.

22  Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing 
to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance 
to the Tent of Meeting.

23  So he said to them, "Why do you do such things? I hear from all the 
people about these wicked deeds of yours.

24  No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the 
LORD'S people.

25  If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a 
man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" His sons, however, 
did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the LORD'S will to put 
them to death.

27  Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "This is what the LORD 
says: 'Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father's house when they 
were in Egypt under Pharaoh?

28  I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to 
go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I 
also gave your father's house all the offerings made with fire by the 
Israelites.

29  Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my 
dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves 
on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?'

30  "Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: 'I promised that your 
house and your father's house would minister before me forever.' But now 
the LORD declares: 'Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but 
those who despise me will be disdained.

31  The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength 
of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your family 
line

32  and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to 
Israel, in your family line there will never be an old man.

33  Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared 
only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart, and all your 
descendants will die in the prime of life.

34  "'And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a 
sign to you--they will both die on the same day.

35  I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to 
what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he 
will minister before my anointed one always.

36  Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before 
him for a piece of silver and a crust of bread and plead, "Appoint me to 
some priestly office so I can have food to eat."'"

3:1  The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the 
word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

2  One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely 
see, was lying down in his usual place.

5  And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I 
did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

6  Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and 
said, "Here I am; you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go 
back and lie down."

8  The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli 
and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was 
calling the boy.

9  So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, 
LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his 
place.

12  At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against 
his family--from beginning to end.

13  For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin 
he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to 
restrain them.

14  Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will 
never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'"

15  Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of 
the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

16  but Eli called him and said, "Samuel, my son." Samuel answered, "Here I 
am."

17  "What was it he said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May 
God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he 
told you."

18  So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, 
"He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes."

4:11  The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, 
died.

12  That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, 
his clothes torn and dust on his head.

13  When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the 
road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man 
entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

14  Eli heard the outcry and asked, "What is the meaning of this uproar?" 
The man hurried over to Eli,

15  who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could 
not see.

16  He told Eli, "I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it 
this very day." Eli asked, "What happened, my son?"

17  The man who brought the news replied, "Israel fled before the 
Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, 
Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

18  When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by 
the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old 
man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.

1KI 2:27  So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD, 
fulfilling the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.

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