20. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, as they were leaving for home. He would say, “May the Lord repay you with children from this woman for the gift she has made to the Lord!”
21. The Lord favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave birth to three more sons and two daughters, while young Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord.
22. When Eli was very old, he kept hearing how his sons were treating all Israel, and that they were behaving promiscuously with the women serving at the entry of the meeting tent.
23. So he said to them: “Why are you doing such things? I hear from everyone that your behavior is depraved.
24. Stop this, my sons! The report that I hear the Lord’s people spreading is not good.
25. If someone sins against another, anyone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for the sinner?” But they disregarded their father’s warning, since the Lord wanted them dead.
26. Meanwhile, young Samuel was growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the Lord and the people.
27. A man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: I went so far as to reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt as slaves to the house of Pharaoh.
28. I chose them out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priests, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod in my presence; and I assigned all the fire offerings of the Israelites to your father’s house.
29. Why do you stare greedily at my sacrifices and at the offerings that I have prescribed? Why do you honor your sons more than you honor me, fattening yourselves with the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel?
30. This, therefore, is the oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel: I said in the past that your family and your father’s house should minister in my presence forever. But now—oracle of the Lord: Far be it from me! I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me shall be cursed.