7. Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
8. He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
9. He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
10. Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
11. Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest.
12. Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh.
13. The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;
14. and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
15. Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”
16. If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires”; then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”
17. The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh.
18. But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.