1 Samuel 2 from Scroll 4Q51 Samuel^a

1 Hannah prayed, and said:

“My heart exults in Yahweh!

My horn is exalted in Yahweh.

My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,

because I rejoice in your salvation.

2 For there is no one as holy as Yahweh,

For there is no one besides you,

nor is there any rock like our God.

3 “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly.

Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth,

For Yahweh is a God of knowledge.

By him actions are weighed.

 

4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken.

Those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.

Those who were hungry are satisfied.

Yes, the barren has borne seven.

She who has many children languishes.

 

6 “Yahweh kills, and makes alive.

He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.

7 Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich.

He brings low, he also lifts up.

8 He raises up the poor out of the dust.

He lifts up the needy from the dunghill,

To make them sit with princes,

and inherit the throne of glory.

For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s.

He has set the world on them.

9 He will keep the feet way of his holy ones,

but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;

He grants the request of the one who vows,

He blesses the years of the righteous,[1]

for no man shall prevail by strength.

10 Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. Yahweh shall break his enemies to pieces.

He will thunder against them in the sky.

Who …when he repays…to do justice (?) …and he thundered…his anointed[2].

16 [3]If the man answered and said to him the priest’s servant, “Let the fat be burned first the priest burn the fat today, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, or I will take it by force.”

2 Samuel 2:13 while the meat was boiling, with he would take a fork of three teeth in his hand;

2 Samuel 2:14 and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron boiler or pot. The priest he took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. If…good alone…daily.[4]

17 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men they despised Yahweh’s offering. 18 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said saying, “May Yahweh give you reward you with offspring from this woman for the petition which was she asked of Yahweh.” Then they the man went to their his own home. 21 Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore another three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew there before Yahweh. 22 Now Eli was very old, ninety-eight years old; and he heard all that what his sons did were doing to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. 24 No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! Do not do so, for it is not a good report that I hear![5] You make Yahweh’s people disobey. 25 If one man surely sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them. 26 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. 27 A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 28 Didn’t I choose him your father’s house out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire to eat? 29 And why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

30 “Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now therefore Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. 31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel; [6]and there shall not be an old man for you in your house forever. 33 The man of yours, whom I don’t cut off from my altar, will consume your eyes and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age fall by the sword of men.[7]

34 “ ‘This will be the sign to you, that will come on these your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. 35 I will raise up a faithful priest for myself, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever. 36 It will happen, that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”