23. Eli said to his sons, “The people here told me about the evil things you have done. Why are you doing such things?
24. Sons, stop that! The Lord’S people are saying bad things about you.
25. If you sin against other people, God might protect you. But who can help you if you sin against the Lord?” Eli’s sons refused to listen to him, so the Lord decided to kill them.
26. The boy Samuel kept growing. He was pleasing to the Lord and to the people.
27. A man of God came to Eli and said, “The Lord says, ‘I appeared to your ancestors when they were slaves of Pharaoh.
28. From all the tribes of Israel, I chose your tribe to be my priests. I chose them to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and wear the ephod. I also let your tribe have the meat from the sacrifices that the Israelites give to me.
29. So why don’t you respect these gifts and sacrifices? You honor your sons more than me. You become fat eating the best parts of the meat that the Israelites bring to me.’
30. “The Lord, the God of Israel, promised that your father’s family would serve him forever. But now the Lord says, ‘That will never be! I will honor people who honor me, but bad things will happen to those who refuse to respect me.
31. The time is coming when I will destroy all your descendants. No one in your family will live to be an old man.
32. Good things will happen to Israel, but you will see bad things happening at home. No one in your family will live to be an old man.
33. There is only one man I will save to serve as priest at my altar. He will live until his eyes wear out and his strength is gone. But all of your descendants will die by the sword.