Bible Strands
1 Samuel 2:13
or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Eli’s sons, serving as priests at Shiloh, impose their own extraction practice on Israelites presenting sacrifices to the tabernacle. (1 Samuel 2:12–14)
The words — The Hebrew מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) denotes a customary legal practice, paired here with הַכֹּהֲנִים (ha-kohanim, the priests) and הָעָם (ha-'am, the people) to describe their imposed regulation.
The thread — This priestly extraction contrasts with the regulated peace offering procedures outlined in Leviticus 7:29.
Why it lands — The text records the priestly servant’s use of a three-pronged fork to seize meat before stating the moral judgment, requiring readers to recognize how institutional power corrupts prescribed worship.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;
Cross-references
- Leviticus 7:29 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Anyone who presents a peace offering to the LORD must bring it as his sacrifice to the LORD.