16 If anyone said, "Let the fat be burned off first, as usual, then take whatever you like for yourself," the assistant would reply, "No, hand it over now. If not, I’ll take it by force."
17 The sin of these priestly assistants was very serious in the Lord’s sight because they were disrespecting the Lord’s own offering.
18 Now Samuel was serving the Lord. He was a young boy, clothed in a linen priestly vest.
19 His mother would make a small robe for him and take it to him every year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: "May the Lord replace the child of this woman that you gave back to the Lord." Then they would return home.
21 The Lord paid attention to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the Lord’s service.
22 Eli was very old, but he heard everything his sons were doing to the Israelites, and how they had sex with the women who served at the meeting tent’s entrance.