Thematic Bible: Hophni


Thematic Bible



The Lord told Samuel, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of all who hear it shall tingle. On that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I [now] announce to him that I will judge and punish his house forever for the iniquity of which he knew, for his sons were bringing a curse upon themselves [blaspheming God], and he did not restrain them. read more.
Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for or purged with sacrifice or offering forever.

The sons of Eli were base and worthless; they did not know or regard the Lord. And the custom of the priests with the people was this: when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the flesh was boiling with a fleshhook of three prongs in his hand; And he thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh with all the Israelites who came there. read more.
Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man who sacrificed, Give the priest meat to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw. And if the man said to him, Let them burn the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want, the priest's servant would say, No! Give it to me now or I will take it by force. So the sin of the [two] young men was very great before the Lord, for they despised the offering of the Lord. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girded with a linen ephod. 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. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, May the Lord give you children by this woman for the gift she asked for and gave to the Lord. Then they would go to their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons; it is no good report which I hear the Lord's people spreading abroad. If one man wrongs another, God will mediate for him; but if a man wrongs the Lord, who shall intercede for him? Yet they did not listen to their father, for it was the Lord's will to slay them. Now the boy Samuel grew and was in favor both with the Lord and with men. A man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus has the Lord said: I plainly revealed Myself to the house of your father [forefather Aaron] when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house. Moreover, I selected him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer on My altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me. And I gave [from then on] to the house of your father [forefather] all the offerings of the Israelites made by fire. Why then do you kick [trample upon, treat with contempt] My sacrifice and My offering which I commanded, and honor your sons above Me by fattening yourselves upon the choicest part of every offering of My people Israel? Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, I did promise that your house and that of your father [forefather Aaron] should go in and out before Me forever. But now the Lord says, Be it far from Me. For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your own father's house, that there shall not be an old man in your house. And you shall behold the distress of My house, even in all the prosperity which God will give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. Yet I will not cut off from My altar every man of yours; some shall survive to weep and mourn [over the family's ruin], but all the increase of your house shall die in their best years. And what befalls your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be a sign to you -- "in one day they both shall die. And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest (Priest), who shall do according to what is in My heart and mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed (Anointed) forever. Everyone who is left in your house shall come crouching to him for a piece of silver and a bit of bread and say, Put me, I pray you, into a priest's office so I may have a piece of bread.


Also the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.”

So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of the covenant of God.


This man went up from his city each year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests to the Lord there.


This will be the sign to you which shall come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them shall die.