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Rh :The will judge the ends of the earth;
 * And He will give strength unto His king,
 * And exalt the horn of His anointed.

And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the before Eli the priest.

Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not the. And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his band; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did unto all the Israelites that came thither in Shiloh. Yea, before the fat was made to smoke, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed: 'Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.' And if the man said unto him: 'Let the fat be made to smoke first of all, and then take as much as thy soul desireth'; then he would say: 'Nay, but thou shalt give it me now; and if not, I will take it by force.' And the sin of the young men was very great before the ; for the men dealt contemptuously with the offering of the.

But Samuel ministered before the, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say: 'The give thee seed of this woman for the loan which was lent to the .' And they would go unto their own home. So the remembered Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how that they lay with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting. And he said unto them: 'Why do ye such things? for I hear evil reports concerning you from all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report which I hear the people do spread abroad. If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against the, who shall entreat for him?' But they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the would slay them. And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favour both with the, and also with men.

And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the : Did I reveal Myself unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to go up unto Mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people? Therefore the, the God of Israel, saith: I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before Me for ever; but now the saith: Be it far from Me: