22. Eli was very old. He heard about the bad things his sons were doing to the Israelites at Shiloh and how his sons were having sexual relations with the women who served at the door of the Meeting Tent.
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.