American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
{Some connect the words Faithful is the saying with the preceding paragraph.}Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a {Or, overseer}bishop, he desireth a good work.
The {Or, overseer}bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
{Or, not quarrelsome over wine}no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;
one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I unto you.
Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know {Or, how thou oughtest to behave thyself}how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and {Or, stay}ground of the truth.
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you {Or, overseers}bishops, to feed the church of {Some ancient authorities, including the two oldest manuscripts read God.}the Lord which he {Greek: acquired.}purchased with his own blood.
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore he saith, {Psalm 68:18.}When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive,And gave gifts unto men.
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you {Or, overseers}bishops, to feed the church of {Some ancient authorities, including the two oldest manuscripts read God.}the Lord which he {Greek: acquired.}purchased with his own blood.
The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
Tend the flock of God which is among you, {Some ancient authorities omit exercising the oversight.}exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, {Some ancient authorities omit according to the will of God.}according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto Jehovah before Eli the priest.
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah.
And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;
and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
Yea, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee, but raw.
And if the man said unto him, They will surely burn the fat {Hebrew: to-day.}first, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then {Another reading is, he would say unto him, Thou &c.}he would say, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
But Samuel ministered before Jehovah, being 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 blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of Jehovah. And they went unto their own home.
{The Hebrew has, For.}And Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before Jehovah.
Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how that they lay with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting.
And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.
Nay, my sons; for it is no good report {Or, which I hear Jehovah's people do spread abroad}that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people to transgress.
If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because Jehovah was minded to slay them.
And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men.
And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt {Or, in Pharaoh's house}in bondage to Pharaoh's house?
{Or, And I chose}and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to {Or, offer upon}go up unto mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? {Or, and gave}and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
Wherefore {Or, trample ye upon…and upon}kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
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 thy house.
And thou shalt behold {Or, an adversary in my habitation}the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever.
{Or, Yet will I not cut off every man of thine from mine altar, to consume &c.}And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart; and all the increase of thy house shall die {Hebrew: when they are men.}in the flower of their age.
And this shall be the sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them.
And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thy house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse upon themselves, and he restrained them not.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.
and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, {Proverbs 3:11 f.}My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
{Or, Endure unto chastening}It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not?
But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of {Or, our spirits}spirits, and live?
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness.
Withhold not correction from the child;For {Or, though}if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
The rod and reproof give wisdom;But a child left to himself causeth shame to his mother.
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you {Or, overseers}bishops, to feed the church of {Some ancient authorities, including the two oldest manuscripts read God.}the Lord which he {Greek: acquired.}purchased with his own blood.
{Some connect the words Faithful is the saying with the preceding paragraph.}Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a {Or, overseer}bishop, he desireth a good work.
The {Or, overseer}bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
{Or, not quarrelsome over wine}no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;
one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)