DAY SEVENTY-EIGHT
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March 19
Devotional
“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband, Elkanah, would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 1 Samuel 1:8 CSB
Do you ever find yourself experiencing foot-in-mouth issues? It’s that moment where some words come out of your mouth that you wish you could take back. In today’s verse there is evidence of some foot-in-mouth issues. Hannah is desperately wanting to have a child and her husband’s best response is “you’ve got me.” Open your mouth and insert your foot. Your words are very important. They have more power and influence than you might imagine. When you’re in those situations where you don’t know what to say, it’s often better to say nothing. It takes wisdom to be silent. It takes patience to listen without giving into the feeling that you need to respond. Choose your words well so that you can spend less time pulling your foot out of your mouth.
1 Samuel 1 CSB
Hannah’s Vow1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. 3 This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Armies at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests.
4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat. 8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband, Elkanah, would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 On one occasion, Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
12 While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. 16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”
17 Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.”
18 “May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”
21 When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice and his vow offering to the Lord, 22 Hannah did not go and explained to her husband, “After the child is weaned, I’ll take him to appear in the Lord’s presence and to stay there permanently.”
23 Her husband, Elkanah, replied, “Do what you think is best, and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord confirm your word.” So Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, as well as a three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a clay jar of wine. Though the boy was still young, she took him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
26 “Please, my lord,” she said, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked him for, 28 I now give the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” Then he worshiped the Lord there.
1 Samuel 2 CSB
Hannah’s Triumphant Prayer2 Hannah prayed:
My heart rejoices in the Lord;
my horn is lifted up by the Lord.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like the Lord.
There is no one besides you!
And there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not boast so proudly,
or let arrogant words come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and actions are weighed by him.
4 The bows of the warriors are broken,
but the feeble are clothed with strength.
5 Those who are full hire themselves out for food,
but those who are starving hunger no more.
The woman who is childless gives birth to seven,
but the woman with many sons pines away.
6 The Lord brings death and gives life;
he sends some down to Sheol, and he raises others up.
7 The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the trash heap.
He seats them with noblemen
and gives them a throne of honor.
For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
he has set the world on them.
9 He guards the steps of his faithful ones,
but the wicked perish in darkness,
for a person does not prevail by his own strength.
10 Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered;
he will thunder in the heavens against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give power to his king;
he will lift up the horn of his anointed.
11 Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord in the presence of the priest Eli.
Eli’s Family Judged
12 Eli’s sons were wicked men; they did not respect the Lord 13 or the priests’ share of the sacrifices from the people. When anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling 14 and plunge it into the container, kettle, cauldron, or cooking pot. The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he won’t accept boiled meat from you—only raw.” 16 If that person said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you can take whatever you want for yourself,” the servant would reply, “No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force!” 17 So the servants’ sin was very severe in the presence of the Lord, because the men treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.
18 Samuel served in the Lord’s presence—this mere boy was dressed in the linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she has given to the Lord.” Then they would go home.
21 The Lord paid attention to Hannah’s need, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? I have heard about your evil actions from all these people. 24 No, my sons, the news I hear the Lord’s people spreading is not good. 25 If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them. 26 By contrast, the boy Samuel grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Didn’t I reveal myself to your forefather’s family when they were in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh’s palace? 28 Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your house to be my priests, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your forefather’s family all the Israelite food offerings. 29 Why, then, do all of you despise my sacrifices and offerings that I require at the place of worship? You have honored your sons more than me, by making yourselves fat with the best part of all of the offerings of my people Israel.’
30 “Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I did say that your family and your forefather’s family would walk before me forever. But now,’ this is the Lord’s declaration, ‘no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced. 31 Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your forefather’s family, so that none in your family will reach old age. 32 You will see distress in the place of worship, in spite of all that is good in Israel, and no one in your family will ever again reach old age. 33 Any man from your family I do not cut off from my altar will bring grief and sadness to you. All your descendants will die violently. 34 This will be the sign that will come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: both of them will die on the same day.
35 “‘Then I will raise up a faithful priest for myself. He will do whatever is in my heart and mind. I will establish a lasting dynasty for him, and he will walk before my anointed one for all time. 36 Anyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say: Please appoint me to some priestly office so I can have a piece of bread to eat.’”
1 Samuel 3 CSB
Samuel’s Call3 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.
2 One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.
4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”
Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that will cause everyone who hears about it to shudder. 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end. 13 I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them. 14 Therefore, I have sworn to Eli’s family: The iniquity of Eli’s family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.”
15 Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
“Here I am,” answered Samuel.
17 “What was the message he gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide anything from him. Eli responded, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is good.”
19 Samuel grew. The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied. 20 All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because there he revealed himself to Samuel by his word.
Psalm 78 CSB
Lessons from Israel’s PastA Maskil of Asaph.
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to the words from my mouth.
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our ancestors have passed down to us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
his might, and the wondrous works
he has performed.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children
6 so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children
7 so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep his commands.
8 Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done,
the wondrous works he had shown them.
12 He worked wonders in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, the territory of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
16 He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.
17 But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They deliberately tested God,
demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.
But can he also provide bread
or furnish meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on his salvation.
23 He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna for them to eat;
he gave them grain from heaven.
25 People ate the bread of angels.
He sent them an abundant supply of food.
26 He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by his might.
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28 He made them fall in the camp,
all around the tents.
29 The people ate and were completely satisfied,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 Before they had turned from what they craved,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and he killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s fit young men.
32 Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe his wondrous works.
33 He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.
34 When he killed some of them,
the rest began to seek him;
they repented and searched for God.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths,
they lied to him with their tongues,
37 their hearts were insincere toward him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was compassionate;
he atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He often turned his anger aside
and did not unleash all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him
in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert.
41 They constantly tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power shown
on the day he redeemed them from the foe,
43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the territory of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies,
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48 He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts.
49 He sent his burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity—
a band of deadly messengers.
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham.
52 He led his people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain his right hand acquired.
55 He drove out nations before them.
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep his decrees.
57 They treacherously turned away like their ancestors;
they became warped like a faulty bow.
58 They enraged him with their high places
and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.
59 God heard and became furious;
he completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where he resided among mankind.
61 He gave up his strength to captivity
and his splendor to the hand of a foe.
62 He surrendered his people to the sword
because he was enraged with his heritage.
63 Fire consumed his chosen young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and the widows could not lament.
65 The Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.
66 He beat back his foes;
he gave them lasting disgrace.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71 he brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over his people Jacob—
over Israel, his inheritance.
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.
1 Samuel 1 CSB
Hannah’s Vow1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. 3 This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Armies at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests.
4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat. 8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband, Elkanah, would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 On one occasion, Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
12 While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. 16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”
17 Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.”
18 “May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”
21 When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice and his vow offering to the Lord, 22 Hannah did not go and explained to her husband, “After the child is weaned, I’ll take him to appear in the Lord’s presence and to stay there permanently.”
23 Her husband, Elkanah, replied, “Do what you think is best, and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord confirm your word.” So Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, as well as a three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a clay jar of wine. Though the boy was still young, she took him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
26 “Please, my lord,” she said, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked him for, 28 I now give the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” Then he worshiped the Lord there.
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1 Samuel 2 CSB
Hannah’s Triumphant Prayer2 Hannah prayed:
My heart rejoices in the Lord;
my horn is lifted up by the Lord.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like the Lord.
There is no one besides you!
And there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not boast so proudly,
or let arrogant words come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and actions are weighed by him.
4 The bows of the warriors are broken,
but the feeble are clothed with strength.
5 Those who are full hire themselves out for food,
but those who are starving hunger no more.
The woman who is childless gives birth to seven,
but the woman with many sons pines away.
6 The Lord brings death and gives life;
he sends some down to Sheol, and he raises others up.
7 The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the trash heap.
He seats them with noblemen
and gives them a throne of honor.
For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
he has set the world on them.
9 He guards the steps of his faithful ones,
but the wicked perish in darkness,
for a person does not prevail by his own strength.
10 Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered;
he will thunder in the heavens against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give power to his king;
he will lift up the horn of his anointed.
11 Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord in the presence of the priest Eli.
Eli’s Family Judged
12 Eli’s sons were wicked men; they did not respect the Lord 13 or the priests’ share of the sacrifices from the people. When anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling 14 and plunge it into the container, kettle, cauldron, or cooking pot. The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he won’t accept boiled meat from you—only raw.” 16 If that person said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you can take whatever you want for yourself,” the servant would reply, “No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force!” 17 So the servants’ sin was very severe in the presence of the Lord, because the men treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.
18 Samuel served in the Lord’s presence—this mere boy was dressed in the linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she has given to the Lord.” Then they would go home.
21 The Lord paid attention to Hannah’s need, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
22 Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? I have heard about your evil actions from all these people. 24 No, my sons, the news I hear the Lord’s people spreading is not good. 25 If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them. 26 By contrast, the boy Samuel grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Didn’t I reveal myself to your forefather’s family when they were in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh’s palace? 28 Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your house to be my priests, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your forefather’s family all the Israelite food offerings. 29 Why, then, do all of you despise my sacrifices and offerings that I require at the place of worship? You have honored your sons more than me, by making yourselves fat with the best part of all of the offerings of my people Israel.’
30 “Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I did say that your family and your forefather’s family would walk before me forever. But now,’ this is the Lord’s declaration, ‘no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced. 31 Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your forefather’s family, so that none in your family will reach old age. 32 You will see distress in the place of worship, in spite of all that is good in Israel, and no one in your family will ever again reach old age. 33 Any man from your family I do not cut off from my altar will bring grief and sadness to you. All your descendants will die violently. 34 This will be the sign that will come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: both of them will die on the same day.
35 “‘Then I will raise up a faithful priest for myself. He will do whatever is in my heart and mind. I will establish a lasting dynasty for him, and he will walk before my anointed one for all time. 36 Anyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. He will say: Please appoint me to some priestly office so I can have a piece of bread to eat.’”
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1 Samuel 3 CSB
Samuel’s Call3 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.
2 One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.
4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”
Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that will cause everyone who hears about it to shudder. 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end. 13 I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them. 14 Therefore, I have sworn to Eli’s family: The iniquity of Eli’s family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.”
15 Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
“Here I am,” answered Samuel.
17 “What was the message he gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide anything from him. Eli responded, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is good.”
19 Samuel grew. The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied. 20 All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because there he revealed himself to Samuel by his word.
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Psalm 78 CSB
Lessons from Israel’s PastA Maskil of Asaph.
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to the words from my mouth.
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our ancestors have passed down to us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
his might, and the wondrous works
he has performed.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children
6 so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children
7 so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep his commands.
8 Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done,
the wondrous works he had shown them.
12 He worked wonders in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, the territory of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
16 He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.
17 But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They deliberately tested God,
demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.
But can he also provide bread
or furnish meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on his salvation.
23 He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna for them to eat;
he gave them grain from heaven.
25 People ate the bread of angels.
He sent them an abundant supply of food.
26 He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by his might.
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28 He made them fall in the camp,
all around the tents.
29 The people ate and were completely satisfied,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 Before they had turned from what they craved,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and he killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s fit young men.
32 Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe his wondrous works.
33 He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.
34 When he killed some of them,
the rest began to seek him;
they repented and searched for God.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths,
they lied to him with their tongues,
37 their hearts were insincere toward him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was compassionate;
he atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He often turned his anger aside
and did not unleash all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him
in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert.
41 They constantly tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power shown
on the day he redeemed them from the foe,
43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the territory of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies,
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48 He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts.
49 He sent his burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity—
a band of deadly messengers.
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham.
52 He led his people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain his right hand acquired.
55 He drove out nations before them.
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep his decrees.
57 They treacherously turned away like their ancestors;
they became warped like a faulty bow.
58 They enraged him with their high places
and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.
59 God heard and became furious;
he completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where he resided among mankind.
61 He gave up his strength to captivity
and his splendor to the hand of a foe.
62 He surrendered his people to the sword
because he was enraged with his heritage.
63 Fire consumed his chosen young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and the widows could not lament.
65 The Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.
66 He beat back his foes;
he gave them lasting disgrace.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71 he brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over his people Jacob—
over Israel, his inheritance.
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.
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