20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife. He would say, "May the Lord give you children by this woman. May they take the place of the boy she prayed for and gave to him." Then they would go home.
21 The Lord was gracious to Hannah. She became pregnant. Over a period of years she had three more sons and two daughters. During that whole time the boy Samuel grew up serving the Lord.
22 Eli was very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to all of the people of Israel. He also heard how they were having sex with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
23 So Eli said to his sons, "Why are you doing those things? All of the people are telling me about the evil things you are doing.
24 No, my sons. The report I hear isn't good. And it's spreading among the Lord's people.
25 If a man sins against someone else, God can help that sinner. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can help him?" In spite of what their father Eli said, his sons didn't pay any attention to his warning. That's because the Lord had already decided to put them to death.
26 The boy Samuel continued to grow stronger. He also became more and more pleasing to the Lord and to people.