1 Samuel 2:30-34

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ¹  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ²  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ³  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed! 2:31 In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength ⁴  and the strength ⁵  of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house! 2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! ⁶  Israel will experience blessings, ⁷  but there will not be an old man in your ⁸  house for all time. ⁹  2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your ¹⁰  eyes to fail ¹¹  and will cause you grief. ¹²  All of those born to your family ¹³  will die in the prime of life. ¹⁴  2:34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, ¹⁵  Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die!

¹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

² tn Heb “walk about before.”

³ tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”

⁴ tn Heb “chop off your arm.” The arm here symbolizes strength and activity.

⁵ tn Heb “arm.”

⁶ tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).

⁷ tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

⁸ tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

⁹ tn Heb “all the days.”

¹⁰ tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

¹¹ tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

¹² tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

¹³ tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

¹⁴ tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and this to you [is] the sign which will come to both of your sons.”