Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- BSB Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no older man will be left in your house.
- NKJV Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
- NASB Behold, the days are coming when I will eliminate your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
- NLT The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God announced He would cut off the strength of Eli's house so none would reach old age. Judgment would fall on his descendants.
Overview
The Lord declares the coming end of vigor and longevity in Eli's family line. This is a reversal of covenant blessing, where long life signified favor. The prophecy begins to spell out the concrete consequences of the priestly corruption, fulfilled in the deaths that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Sam 22:17–20And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD: because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
- Ezek 44:10And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
- 1 Sam 4:2And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.
- Ezek 30:21–24Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
- Job 22:9Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
- 1 Sam 14:3And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
- 1 Kgs 2:26–27And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the LORD God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.
- 1 Sam 4:11–20And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.
- 1 Kgs 2:35And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 2:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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