The Daily Audio Bible

Eli Confronts Hophni and Phinehas

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, even that they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? For I am hearing of your evil dealings from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons! Truly, it is not a good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, God will judge him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel was growing both in stature and favor with the Lord and also with men.

God’s Case Against the House of Eli

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not plainly reveal Myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ And choose him 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 I gave to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel? ²⁹ Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering, which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’

³⁰ “Therefore the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I surely said that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before Me forever,’ but now the Lord says, ‘Far be it from Me to do so, for those who honor Me, I will honor, and those that despise Me will be humbled. ³¹ The days are coming when I will cut off your authority and the strength of your father’s house, so there shall not be an old man in your house. ³² You shall see the distress of My dwelling, despite all the good which will be done for Israel. And there shall not be an elderly man in your house perpetually. ³³ Yet the one I do not cut off from My altar will be spared so your eyes will not stop weeping or your soul grieving. All the increase of your house will die in their prime.

³⁴ “ ‘This will be the sign to you which will come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: In one day, they will both die. ³⁵ And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest; what is in My heart and in My soul he will do it. And I will build him a sure house, and it will walk before My anointed forever. ³⁶ But it will be 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 will say, Please attach me to one of the priestly offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.’ ”

God Calls Samuel

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no vision coming forth.

² At that time, Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak that he could not see), ³ and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the ark of God was.

⁴ Then the Lord called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called to me.”

And he said, “I did not call. Return, lie down again.” And he went and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called Samuel again. So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

And he answered, “I did not call, my son. Return, lie down again.”

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord again called Samuel a third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling to the boy. ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. And it will be, if He calls you, that you will say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant listens.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood, and He called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant listens.”

¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am doing something in Israel which will make both ears ring of every one that hears it. ¹² In that day I will bring about against Eli everything which I have spoken with regard to his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I told him that I will judge his house forever, for the guilt which he knew, because his sons are cursed, and he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for with sacrifice nor offering forever.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Now Samuel feared to report the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁷ He said, “What is the thing that the Lord has spoken to you? Do not hide it from me. Thus may God do so to you, and more also, if you hide from me a word out of all the things that He spoke to you.” ¹⁸ Samuel told him everything, and did not hide from him a thing. And he said, “It is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.”

¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was proven to be a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

The Ark of God Captured

And Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and they made camp beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. ² The Philistines arrayed themselves in a battle line against Israel, and when the battle was over, Israel was beaten before the Philistines, who struck down on the field of battle about four thousand men. ³ When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord struck us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that it might come among us and rescue us out of the hand of our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the ground was in an uproar. ⁶ When the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, “What does this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp.

⁷ The Philistines were afraid, when they said, “God is come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For this has never happened to us before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong and be men, O Philistines, lest you be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Now be men and fight.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought and Israel was beaten. And they fled every man into his tent. It was a very great defeat, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ Now the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² There ran a man of Benjamin from the battle line, and he came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dust upon his head. ¹³ When he came, Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching. For his heart feared for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

¹⁴ When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?”

And the man hurriedly came and told Eli. ¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. ¹⁶ The man said to Eli, “I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the battle line.”

And he said, “What is the word, my son?”

¹⁷ The messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there also has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the ark of God is taken.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke and he died, for he was an old and heavy man. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. ²⁰ About the time of her death the women that stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or regard it.

²¹ She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

²⁴ “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. ²⁵ Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷ and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

²⁸ “Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. ³⁰ I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge. My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Witnesses to Jesus

³¹ “If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true. ³² There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.

³³ “You sent to John, and he bore witness of the truth. ³⁴ I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

³⁶ “I have greater testimony than that of John. The works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. ³⁷ The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. ³⁸ You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the One He has sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life. These are they who bear witness of Me. ⁴⁰ Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

⁴¹ “I do not receive honor from men. ⁴² But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, but you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Psalm 106^(A)