Through the Bible – Day 93

₁Elkanah lived in Ramah, a town in the hill country of Ephraim. His great-great-grandfather was Zuph, so Elkanah was a member of the Zuph clan of the Ephraim tribe. Elkanah's father was Jeroham, his grandfather was Elihu, and his great-grandfather was Tohu.

₂Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Although Peninnah had children, Hannah did not have any.

₃Once a year Elkanah travelled from his home town to Shiloh, where he worshipped the LORD All-Powerful and offered sacrifices. Eli was the LORD's priest there, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas served with him as priests.

₄Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he gave some of the meat to Peninnah and some to each of her sons and daughters. ₅But he gave Hannah even more, because he loved Hannah very much, even though the LORD had kept her from having children of her own.

₆Peninnah liked to make Hannah feel miserable about not having any children, ₇especially when the family went to the house of the LORD each year.

One day, Elkanah was there offering a sacrifice, when Hannah began crying and refused to eat. ₈So Elkanah asked, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why do you feel so bad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?”

₉When the sacrifice had been offered, and they had eaten the meal, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli was sitting in his chair near the door to the place of worship. ₁₀Hannah was brokenhearted and was crying as she prayed, ₁₁“LORD All-Powerful, I am your servant, but I am so miserable! Please let me have a son. I will give him to you for as long as he lives, and his hair will never be cut.”

_12-13Hannah prayed silently to the LORD for a long time. But her lips were moving, and Eli thought she was drunk. ₁₄“How long are you going to stay drunk?” he asked. “Sober up!”

_15-16“Sir, please don't think I'm no good!” Hannah answered. “I'm not drunk, and I haven't been drinking. But I do feel miserable and terribly upset. I've been praying all this time, telling the LORD about my problems.”

₁₇Eli replied, “You may go home now and stop worrying. I'm sure the God of Israel will answer your prayer.”

₁₈“Sir, thank you for being so kind to me,” Hannah said. Then she left, and after eating something, she felt much better.

₁₉Elkanah and his family got up early the next morning and worshipped the LORD. Then they went back home to Ramah. Later the LORD blessed Elkanah and Hannah ₂₀with a son. She named him Samuel because she had asked the LORD for him.

₂₁The next time Elkanah and his family went to offer their yearly sacrifice, he took along a gift that he had promised to give to the LORD. ₂₂But Hannah stayed at home, because she had told Elkanah, “Samuel and I won't go until he's old enough for me to stop nursing him. Then I'll give him to the LORD, and he can stay there at Shiloh for the rest of his life.”

₂₃“You know what's best,” Elkanah said. “Stay here until it's time to stop nursing him. I'm sure the LORD will help you do what you have promised.” Hannah did not go to Shiloh until she stopped nursing Samuel.

_24-25When it was the time of year to go to Shiloh again, Hannah and Elkanah took Samuel to the LORD's house. They brought along a three-year-old bull, a sack containing about nine kilogrammes of flour, and a clay jar full of wine. Hannah and Elkanah offered the bull as a sacrifice, then brought the little boy to Eli.

₂₆“Sir,” Hannah said, “a few years ago I stood here beside you and asked the LORD ₂₇to give me a child. Here he is! The LORD gave me just what I asked for. ₂₈Now I am giving him to the LORD, and he will be the LORD's servant for as long as he lives.”

Elkanah worshipped the LORD there at Shiloh, and

₁Hannah prayed:

₁₁Elkanah and Hannah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed to help Eli serve the LORD.

_12-13Eli's sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the LORD. So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork. ₁₄The servant would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out on the fork was taken back to the priests. That is how these two priests treated every Israelite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh. ₁₅Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to the LORD.

Then the servant would tell them, “The priest doesn't want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!”

₁₆Usually the people answered, “Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the LORD.”

“No,” the servant would reply. “If you don't give it to me now, I'll take it by force.”

₁₇Eli's sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the LORD very angry.

₁₈The boy Samuel served the LORD and wore a special linen garment ₁₉and the clothes his mother made for him. She would bring new clothes every year, when she and her husband came to offer sacrifices at Shiloh.

₂₀Eli would always bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “Samuel was born in answer to your prayers. Now you have given him to the LORD. I pray that the LORD will bless you with more children to take his place.” After Eli had blessed them, Elkanah and Hannah would return home.

₂₁The LORD was kind to Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel grew up at the LORD's house in Shiloh.

₂₂Eli was now very old, and he heard what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. _23-24“Why are you doing these awful things?” he asked them. “I've been hearing nothing but complaints about you from all the LORD's people. ₂₅If you harm another person, God can help make things right between the two of you. But if you commit a crime against the LORD, no one can help you!”

But the LORD had already decided to kill them. So he kept them from listening to their father.

₂₆Each day the LORD and his people liked Samuel more and more.

₂₇One day a prophet came to Eli and gave him this message from the LORD:

₁After Jesus had finished teaching the people, he went to Capernaum. ₂In that town an army officer's servant was sick and about to die. The officer liked this servant very much. ₃And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal the servant.

₄The leaders went to Jesus and begged him to do something. They said, “This man deserves your help! ₅He loves our nation and even built us a meeting place.” ₆So Jesus went with them.

When Jesus wasn't far from the house, the officer sent some friends to tell him, “Lord, don't go to any trouble for me! I am not good enough for you to come into my house. ₇And I am certainly not worthy to come to you. Just say the word, and my servant will get well. ₈I have officers who give orders to me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I can say to one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes. I can say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I can say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he will do it.”

₉When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised that he turned and said to the crowd following him, “In all of Israel I've never found anyone with this much faith!”

₁₀The officer's friends returned and found the servant well.

₁₁Soon Jesus and his disciples were on their way to the town of Nain, and a big crowd was going along with them. ₁₂As they came near the gate of the town, they saw people carrying out the body of a widow's only son. Many people from the town were walking along with her.

₁₃When the Lord saw the woman, he felt sorry for her and said, “Don't cry!”

₁₄Jesus went over and touched the stretcher on which the people were carrying the dead boy. They stopped, and Jesus said, “Young man, get up!” ₁₅The boy sat up and began to speak. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.

₁₆Everyone was frightened and praised God. They said, “A great prophet is here with us! God has come to his people.”

₁₇News about Jesus spread all over Judea and everywhere else in that part of the country.