First Soldier: O Eli, servant of God, woe unto thee!
Second Soldier: O Eli, be strong, and hear the news we bring.
First Soldier: Israel hath joined battle with the Philistines; Israel was smitten before the Philistines.
Second Soldier: We brought the ark of the covenant to save us: It was thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who carried the ark.
Third Soldier: And there was a very great slaughter—And thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas—
First Soldier and Second Soldier: The Lord hath slain them!
(Eli trembles and falls backward; the First and Second Soldiers support him.)
Third Soldier: Lo, ye have slain him with your evil tidings.
Samuel (runs to Eli lovingly, and kneels before him, embracing him): O my dear master! (A pause, then he rises and turns to the soldiers.) Bear him hence between you. (First and Second Soldiers lead him out.) (To Third Soldier.) Grieve not; ye have not slain him, but he is smitten of the Lord. For the Lord, he came unto me in a vision of the night, saying, I will smite the house of Eli forever, because his sons did bring a curse upon themselves and he restrained them not.