Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Samuel 2
⁶ The LORD gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
⁷ The LORD makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.
⁸ He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the LORD’s, and he has set the world in order.
⁹ “He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.
¹⁰ Those who fight against the LORD will be shattered. He thunders against them from heaven; the LORD judges throughout the earth. He gives power to his king; he increases the strength of his anointed one.”
¹¹ Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the LORD by assisting Eli the priest.
¹² Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD
¹³ or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling,
¹⁴ the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way.
¹⁵ Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.
¹⁶ The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.”