23. So he said to them, “Why are you doing these things? Everybody tells me about the evil you are doing.
24. Stop it, my sons! This is an awful thing the people of the Lord are talking about!
25. If anyone sins against someone else, God can defend him; but who can defend someone who sins against the Lord?”But they would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided to kill them.
26. The boy Samuel continued to grow and to gain favour both with the Lord and with people.
27. A prophet came to Eli with this message from the Lord: “When your ancestor Aaron and his family were slaves of the king of Egypt, I revealed myself to Aaron.
28. From all the tribes of Israel I chose his family to be my priests, to serve at the altar, to burn the incense, and to wear the ephod to consult me. And I gave them the right to keep a share of the sacrifices burnt on the altar.
29. Why, then, do you look with greed at the sacrifices and offerings which I require from my people? Why, Eli, do you honour your sons more than me by letting them fatten themselves on the best parts of all the sacrifices my people offer to me?
30. I, the Lord God of Israel, promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honour those who honour me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me.
31. Listen, the time is coming when I will kill all the young men in your family and your clan, so that no man in your family will live to be old.
32. You will be troubled and look with envy on all the blessings I will give to the other people of Israel, but no one in your family will ever again live to old age.