11 After that, Elkanah and his family went home to Ramah. Samuel stayed at Shiloh, and there Eli taught him the way to work for God.

12 Eli’s 2 sons both looked after God’s ceremonies, but they were no good. They didn’t respect God. 13 If somebody gave meat to God, those 2 used to take meat the wrong way from that person. You see, the Israel mob used to boil meat in a big cooking pot at God’s ceremony house. One of Eli’s sons used to tell a worker to get meat for him. 14 The worker used to come with a big fork and stick it into the cooking pot to stab some meat. Some bits of meat got stuck on the fork, and that meat was like pay for that ceremony man. Maybe the worker got lots of meat on the fork, maybe a little bit. All the Israel mob used to go to Shiloh to give meat to God. Those 2 did the same to everybody whenever they came to Shiloh. 15 But that was not the right way to do it. They should burn the fat in the fire first. But those 2 didn’t do that. The worker used to tell the owner of the meat, “Give me meat for the 2 men that look after God’s ceremonies, so they can cook it on the fire and eat it. They don’t like meat that’s boiled in water. Give them raw meat.”

16 That man might answer, “Wait for me to burn the fat first. Then you can get the meat.”

But the worker said, “No. Give it to me right now, or I will just take it from you.”

17 So Eli’s 2 sons kept on doing things the wrong way. They didn’t respect God or his word. God was angry with them.

18 The boy Samuel worked for God. He wore special clothes like those of a man that looked after God’s ceremonies. 19 Every year Hannah went to Shiloh with her husband to burn meat for God, and every year she took a new coat to Samuel. 20 Eli used to pray to God for Elkanah and Hannah like this, “God, you gave this woman a boy, just as she asked, and she gave him back to you. So give them other kids now instead of him.” Then they used to go back home. 21 And God was really good to Hannah. After that, she had some other kids. She had 3 boys and 2 girls.

All this time Samuel grew up in God’s house, still working for him.

22 Eli became a really old man. He heard that his 2 sons did wrong things to the Israel people. He also heard that they slept with the women that worked in God’s house, like men sleep with their wives, but those men were not married to those women. Those women worked at the front door of the house.

23 Eli said to his 2 sons, “Lots of people tell me that you do bad things. Why are you doing that? 24 My sons, stop it. Lots of God’s people talk about you. That bad news is everywhere. 25 You know, if a man does wrong to another, somebody can ask God not to punish him. But if a man does wrong to God himself, nobody can ask God not to punish him.”

But his sons didn’t listen to him. You see, God already made up his mind to kill them. 26 But the boy Samuel was growing up the right way. God loved him and so did everybody else.* Luke 2:52