9. God guards the feet of his faithful ones,but the wicked die in darknessbecause no one succeeds by strength alone.
10. The Lord!His enemies are terrified!God thunders against them from heaven!The Lord!He judges the far corners of the earth!May God give strength to his kingand raise high the strength of his anointed one.
11. Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord under Eli the priest.
12. Now Eli’s sons were despicable men who didn’t know the Lord.
13. This was how the priest was supposed to act with the people: Whenever anyone made a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s assistant would come with a three-pronged fork in hand.
14. He would thrust it into the cauldron or the pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is how it was done for all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.
15. But with Eli’s sons, even before the fat was burned, the priest’s assistant would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, "Give the priest some meat to roast. He won’t accept boiled meat from you."
16. If anyone said, "Let the fat be burned off first, as usual, then take whatever you like for yourself," the assistant would reply, "No, hand it over now. If not, I’ll take it by force."
17. The sin of these priestly assistants was very serious in the Lord’s sight because they were disrespecting the Lord’s own offering.
18. Now Samuel was serving the Lord. He was a young boy, clothed in a linen priestly vest.
19. His mother would make a small robe for him and take it to him every year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
20. Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: "May the Lord replace the child of this woman that you gave back to the Lord." Then they would return home.