1 Samuel 2 - New Catholic Bible (NCB)

Chapter 2

^{1 [a]}Then Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart rejoices in the Lord,
my horn is lifted high in the Lord.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I rejoice in my salvation.
² There is no holy one like the Lord,
there is none beside you,
nor is there a rock like our God.
^{3 [b]}Do not talk so proudly
nor let arrogance come forth from your mouth,
for the Lord is a knowing God,
and by him actions are weighed.
⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken,
the feeble are clothed in strength.
⁵ The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,
and the hungry cease to hunger.
The barren has borne seven times,
while she who has many children grows faint.
⁶ The Lord kills and brings to life.
He brings down to Sheol, and lifts up.
⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich,
he humbles and he also exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust,
and from the refuse he lifts up the beggar,
To seat them among princes,
that they might inherit a throne of glory.
For the Lord’s are the pillars of the earth,
and he has set the world upon them.
⁹ He will guard the feet of his saints,
but the wicked will be cut off in the darkness,
for by strength none shall prevail.
¹⁰ Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered,
he will thunder against them from the heavens,
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth,
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed one.”

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the child ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² The Sons of Eli.^[c][d]Now Eli’s sons were sons of Belial, they had no regard for the Lord. ¹³ This is how the priests would deal with the people when anyone came to offer a sacrifice: the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ He would stick it in the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. Everything that he would bring up with the fork was for the priest. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came up to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come up to a man and say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. He will not take any boiled meat from you, only raw meat.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, then you can take what you want,” he would answer him, “No! Give it to me now, or I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ The young men’s sin was very serious before the Lord, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

¹⁸ Hannah’s Family Grows. Samuel was ministering to the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod.^{[e] 19} His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him each year when she came up with her husband to offer their yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord grant you children from this woman in place of the one you have dedicated to the Lord.” They then went home. ²¹ The Lord was gracious to Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Young Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

²² Eli’s Warning Ignored. Now Eli was very old, and he heard about all the things that his sons were doing to the whole of Israel, how they lay with the woman who gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do these things? I have been hearing about your evil deeds from everyone. ²⁴ No, my sons! It is an evil report that I hear among the Lord’s people. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, then a judge will judge him. If a man sins against God, who will intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father’s rebuke, for the Lord wanted to put them to death.^[f]

²⁶ Meanwhile young Samuel grew in stature and favor with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ The Punishment of Eli’s Sons.^[g]Now a man of God came to Eli and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Did I not choose him from out of all of the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give your father’s house all of the burnt offerings of the Israelites? ²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering that I have prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest of the offerings of my people Israel?

³⁰ “ ‘Therefore,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Even though I declared that you and your father’s house would minister before me forever, now, far be it from me,’ says the Lord. ‘I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be despised. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that not a single old man remains in your house. ³² You will see the distress of my dwelling in spite of all that I have given Israel. In your house there will never again be an old man. ³³ Everyone of you whom I do not cut off from my altar will be spared so that you can cry out your eyes and grieve your heart. All the descendants of your house will die in the prime of their life.

³⁴ “ ‘This will be a sign for you of what will come upon your two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas. They will both die on the same day. ³⁵ But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do what is my in heart and my mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will walk before my anointed forever. ³⁶ Whoever is left in your house will bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say, “Please place me in one of the priest’s offices so that I might have a piece of bread to eat.” ’ ”

Footnotes

1. 1 Samuel 2:1 This canticle was composed later on, but it suits the event described so well that Mary’s Magnificat is largely inspired by it (Lk 1:46ff).
2. 1 Samuel 2:3 Hannah had no need to remonstrate with those (i.e., Peninnah) who had shown her disrespect because she knew God as the supreme judge and trusted in his divine justice.
3. 1 Samuel 2:12 The lengthy episode about the prophet explains why, in the time of Solomon, the high priesthood was transferred from Abiathar, a descendant of Eli, to Zadok (1 Ki 2:27-35). It also justifies the removal of various local sanctuaries from Levite control after the centralization of worship in Jerusalem (2 Ki 23:9) toward the end of the seventh century.
4. 1 Samuel 2:12 Under the law, Eli’s sons, who were priests, had many advantages. They were, however, filled with greed and took more than their due, thereby undermining their position. Eli’s failure to take action caused hardship for others and in the end destroyed his and his sons’ relationship with God.
5. 1 Samuel 2:18 Ephod: a priestly garment that little Samuel was already wearing, although his was not made of the same precious material as the priests’.
6. 1 Samuel 2:25 The Lord . . . put them to death: because of their deception, sinfulness, and arrogance against God and the people they served, the Lord would no longer protect Eli’s sons, and this led to their death.
7. 1 Samuel 2:27 The high priesthood, which, after Aaron, had belonged to his son Eleazar (Num 20:25-28), had been transferred to the line of the latter’s younger brother, Ithamar (1 Chr 24:3), at a time and in a way not recorded in the Bible. The present prophecy will soon begin to be fulfilled in the killing of Ahimelech and the other priests of Nob (1 Sam 22:11-18, 20), although Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son, will be saved on that occasion, only to be removed by Solomon.