Bible Verses About Judgments

Moreover, the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of 'Eli, Hofni and Pinchas, died.

One of the soldiers, a man from Binyamin, ran and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and earth on his head [as a sign of mourning].

As he arrived, 'Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, watching; because he was trembling with anxiety over the ark of God. When the man entered the city and told the news, the whole city began crying out.

On hearing the cries, 'Eli asked, "What does this uproar mean?" So the man hurried, came to 'Eli and told him.

'Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed, because he was blind.

The man said to 'Eli, "I'm the soldier that came; I escaped today from the battlefield." He asked, "How did things go, my son?"

The one who had come with the news answered, "Isra'el fled before the P'lishtim, and there was a terrible slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hofni and Pinchas, also are dead; and the ark of God was captured.

As soon as he mentioned what had happened to the ark of God, 'Eli fell backward off his seat next to the gate, broke his neck and died; for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Isra'el forty years.

His daughter-in-law, Pinchas's wife, was pregnant and near delivery-time. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into abnormal labor, bent over and gave birth.

As she was dying, the women standing by her said to her, "Don't be afraid, because you have given birth to a son." But she didn't answer or show any sign of recognition.

She named the child I-Khavod [without glory], saying, "The glory has departed from Isra'el"; because the ark of God had been captured, and because of her father-in-law and husband.

She said, "The glory of Isra'el has gone into exile, because the ark of God has been captured."

Just then, as Yarov'am was standing by the altar to burn incense, a man of God came out of Y'hudah, directed to Beit-El by a word from ADONAI.

And by the word from ADONAI he cried out against the altar: "Altar, altar, here is what ADONAI says: 'A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice the cohanim of the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!'"

That same day he also gave a sign: "Here is the sign which ADONAI has decreed: "'The altar will be split apart; the ashes on it will be scattered about.'"

When the king heard what the man of God said, how he denounced the altar in Beit-El, Yarov'am took his hand away from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But his hand, the one he had stretched out against him, shriveled up; so that he could not draw it back to himself.

Also the altar was split apart, and the ashes scattered from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of ADONAI.

The king then responded to the man of God. "Ask now the favor of ADONAI your God," he said, "and pray for me, that my hand will be restored to me." The man of God prayed to ADONAI, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it had been before.

The king then said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

But the man of God replied to the king, "Even if you give me half your household, I will not accept your hospitality; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place.

For this is the order I received through the word of ADONAI: 'Don't eat food or drink water, and don't return by the road you took when you came.'"

So he went another way and did not return by the road by which he had come to Beit-El.

Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El; and one of his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Beit-El; also they told their father what he had said to the king.

Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen what road the man of God from Y'hudah had taken.

He then said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and, riding on it,