1 Samuel 1:1-2:21

Contemporary English Version

Hannah Asks the Lord for a Child

1 Elkanah lived in Ramah,^[a] a town in the hill country of Ephraim. His great-great-grandfather was Zuph, so Elkanah was a member of the Zuph clan of the Ephraim tribe. Elkanah's father was Jeroham, his grandfather was Elihu, and his great-grandfather was Tohu.

²Elkanah had two wives,^[b] Hannah and Peninnah. Although Peninnah had children, Hannah did not have any.

³Once a year Elkanah traveled from his hometown to Shiloh, where he worshiped the Lord All-Powerful and offered sacrifices. Eli was the Lord's priest there, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas served with him as priests.^[c]

⁴Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he gave some of the meat^[d] to Peninnah and some to each of her sons and daughters. ⁵But he gave Hannah even more, because^[e] he loved Hannah very much, even though the Lord had kept her from having children of her own.

⁶Peninnah liked to make Hannah feel miserable about not having any children, ⁷especially when the family went to the house of the Lord^[f] each year.

One day, Elkanah was there offering a sacrifice, when Hannah began crying and refused to eat. ⁸So Elkanah asked, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why do you feel so bad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹When the sacrifice had been offered, and they had eaten the meal, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli was sitting in his chair near the door to the place of worship. ¹⁰Hannah was heartbroken and was crying as she prayed, ¹¹^(A) “Lord All-Powerful, I am your servant, but I am so miserable! Please let me have a son. I promise to give him to you for as long as he lives, and his hair will never be cut.”^[g]

^12-13Hannah prayed silently to the Lord for a long time. But her lips were moving, and Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴“How long are you going to stay drunk?” he asked. “Sober up!”

^15-16“Sir, please don't think I'm no good!” Hannah answered. “I'm not drunk, and I haven't been drinking. But I do feel miserable and terribly upset. I've been praying all this time, telling the Lord about my problems.”

¹⁷Eli replied, “Go home. Everything will be fine. The God of Israel will answer your prayer.”

¹⁸“Sir, thank you for being so kind to me,” Hannah said. Then she left, and after eating something, she felt much better.

Samuel Is Born

¹⁹Elkanah and his family got up early the next morning and worshiped the Lord. Then they went back home to Ramah. Later the Lord blessed Elkanah and Hannah ²⁰with a son. She named him Samuel because she had asked the Lord for him.^[h]

Hannah Gives Samuel to the Lord

²¹The next time Elkanah and his family went to offer their yearly sacrifice, he took along a gift that he had promised to give to the Lord. ²²But Hannah stayed home, because she had told Elkanah, “Samuel and I won't go until he's old enough for me to stop nursing him. Then I'll give him to the Lord, and he can stay there at Shiloh for the rest of his life.”

²³“You know what's best,” Elkanah said. “Stay here until it's time to stop nursing him. I'm sure the Lord will help you do what you have promised.”^[i] Hannah did not go to Shiloh until she stopped nursing Samuel.

^24-25When it was the time of year to go to Shiloh again, Hannah and Elkanah^[j] took Samuel to the Lord's house. They brought along a three-year-old bull,^[k] a sack containing about nine kilograms of flour, and a clay jar full of wine. Hannah and Elkanah offered the bull as a sacrifice, then brought the little boy to Eli.

²⁶“Sir,” Hannah said, “a few years ago I stood here beside you and asked the Lord ²⁷to give me a child. Here he is! The Lord gave me just what I asked for. ²⁸Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will be the Lord's servant for as long as he lives.”

Hannah Prays

Elkanah^[l] worshiped the Lord there at Shiloh, and 2 ¹^(B) Hannah prayed:

You make me strong
and happy, Lord.
You rescued me.
Now I can be glad
and laugh at my enemies.

²No other god^[m] is like you.
And with you we are safer
    than on a high mountain.^[n]
³I can tell those proud people,
    “Stop your boasting!
Nothing is hidden from the Lord,
    and he judges what we do.”

⁴Our Lord, you break
    the bows of warriors,
but you give strength
    to everyone who stumbles.
⁵People who once
    had plenty to eat
must now hire themselves out
    for only a piece of bread.
But you give the hungry more
    than enough to eat.
A woman did not have a child,
    and you gave her seven,
but a woman who had many
    was left with none.
⁶^(C) You take away life,
    and you give life.
You send people down
to the world of the dead
    and bring them back again.

⁷Our Lord, you are the one
    who makes us rich or poor.
You put some in high positions
    and bring disgrace on others.
⁸You lift the poor and homeless
    out of the garbage dump
and give them places of honor
    in royal palaces.

You set the world on foundations,
and they belong to you.
⁹You protect your loyal people,
but everyone who is evil
will die in darkness.

We cannot win a victory
    by our own strength.
¹⁰Our Lord, those who attack you
    will be broken in pieces
when you fight back
    with thunder from heaven.
You will judge the whole earth
and give power and strength
    to your chosen king.

Samuel Stays with Eli

¹¹Elkanah and Hannah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed to help Eli serve the Lord.

Eli's Sons

^12-13Eli's sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the Lord. So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork. ¹⁴The servant would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out on the fork was taken back to Eli's two sons. That was how they treated every Israelite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh. ¹⁵Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to the Lord.^[o]

Then the servant would tell them, “The priest doesn't want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!”

¹⁶Usually the people answered, “Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the Lord.”

“No,” the servant would reply. “If you don't give it to me now, I'll take it by force.”

¹⁷Eli's sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the Lord very angry.

Hannah Visits Samuel

¹⁸The boy Samuel served the Lord and wore a special linen garment^[p] ¹⁹and the clothes^[q] his mother made for him. She brought new clothes every year, when she and her husband came to offer sacrifices at Shiloh.

²⁰Eli always blessed Elkanah and his wife and said, “Samuel was born in answer to your prayers. Now you have given him to the Lord. I pray that the Lord will bless you with more children to take his place.” After Eli had blessed them, Elkanah and Hannah would return home.

²¹The Lord was kind to Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel grew up at the Lord's house in Shiloh.

Footnotes

1.1 Ramah: The Hebrew has “Ramathaim,” a longer form of “Ramah” (see verse 19).
1.2 two wives: Having more than one wife was allowed in those times.
1.3 Eli … priests: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, served the Lord as priests.”
1.4 meat: For some sacrifices, like this one, only part of the meat was burned. Some was given to the priest, and the rest was eaten by the family and guests of the worshiper (see Leviticus 3.1-17; 7.11-18).
1.5 even more, because: One ancient translation; Hebrew “only one; he.”
1.7 house of the Lord: Another name for the place of worship at Shiloh, which still may have been the sacred tent at this time.
1.11 his hair … cut: Never cutting the child's hair would be a sign that he would belong to the Lord (see Numbers 6.1,21, especially verse 5).
1.20 him: In Hebrew “Samuel” sounds something like “Someone from God” or “The name of God” or “His name is God.”
1.23 the Lord … promised: The Dead Sea Scrolls and two ancient translations; the Standard Hebrew Text “the Lord will do what he said.”
1.24,25 When it was the time of year to go to Shiloh again, Hannah and Elkanah: The Dead Sea Scrolls and one ancient translation; the Standard Hebrew Text “she.”
1.24,25 a three-year-old bull: The Dead Sea Scrolls and two ancient translations; the Standard Hebrew Text “three bulls.”
1.28 Elkanah: Or “They” or “Samuel.”
2.2 god: The Hebrew text has “holy one,” a term for supernatural beings or gods.
2.2 mountain: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 2.
2.15 sacrificed to the Lord: The fat belonged to the Lord and was supposed to be burned as a sacrifice before the rest of the animal was cooked and eaten (see Leviticus 3.3,4,9,10,14,15).
2.18 a special linen garment: Either a loin cloth or a jacket or a vest worn only by priests.
2.19 clothes: The Hebrew word means a sleeveless coat or robe that was worn by priests. Samuel was a small child, but his mother made him clothes just like those worn by priests.