1And Hannah prayed, and said, “My heart rejoices in the LORD, my horn is exalted in the LORD, my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2There is none holy like the LORD; for there is none beside You, nor is there any rock like our God.

3“Talk no more so exceedingly proudly; do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. 4The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they who stumbled are girded with strength. 5They who were full have hired themselves out for food; and they who were hungry stopped hungering; so that the barren has born seven; and she who has many children languishes.

6“The LORD kills, and brings to life; He brings down to the grave, and raises up. 7The LORD makes poor, and makes rich; He brings low, and lifts up. 8He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes, and lets them inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and He has set the world upon them.

9“He will guard the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for no man shall prevail by his own strength. 10The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them. The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed.”

11Then Elkanah returned to his house in Ramah, and left the child (Samuel) to serve the LORD under Eli, the priest.

12Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; who did not know or reverence the LORD. 13And the priests' custom with the people was that, when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged meat-hook 14And struck it into the pan, kettle, caldron, or pot; and whatever the meat-hook brought up, the priest took for himself. This was how all the Israelites were treated who came there to Shiloh. 15Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man making the sacrifice, “Give meat for the priest to roast; for he will not have boiled meat from you, but raw.” 16And if anyone said to him, “Let them first burn the fat, and then take as much as your soul desires”; then they (Eli’s sons) would reply, “No! You will give it to me now: and if not, I will take it by force.” 17Therefore the sin of those young men was very great before the LORD; for these men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.

18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, as a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19And his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “The LORD give you children of this woman to replace this one which is lent to the LORD.” And they returned to their own home. 21And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And meanwhile, the child, Samuel, grew up in the presence of the LORD.

22Now Eli was very old, and he heard all the evil that his sons did to all Israel, and how they slept with the women who assembled at the entrance of the tabernacle of meeting. 23And Eli said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear from all the people of your evil doings. 24No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear: you cause the LORD's people to transgress. 25If one person sins against another, the Judge (God) shall judge him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who shall intercede for him?” Yet, they did not listen to their father, because it was the intent of the LORD to slay them. 26And the child, Samuel, grew, and had favor with both the LORD, as well as with men.

27And a man of God came to Eli, and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I not plainly appear to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 28And did I not choose him (Aaron) out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel? 29Why do you trample upon My sacrifice and My offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honor your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel, My people? 30Therefore the LORD God of Israel says, “I indeed promised that your family, and the family of your father, would walk before Me forever”; but now the LORD says, “Be it far from Me. For those who honor Me, I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31The days are coming when I will cut off your strength, and the strength of your father's house, so that there shall not be any who will reach old age in your house. 32And you shall look with envy as you see the wealth which God shall lavish upon the people of Israel: while no one in your family shall live to be an old man. 33And the few that I do not cut off from serving at My altar, I shall spare so their eyes will see, and to grieve their hearts; and all the children of your family shall die in the flower of their age. 34And what shall happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be a sign to you: in one day they shall both die. 35And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in My heart and My mind; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed kings forever. 36And then everyone who is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall plead: ‘Please put me into one of the priests' offices, that I may food to eat.’”’”