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1 Samuel 1:1-3
New Catholic Bible
1 Samuel 1:1-3
New Catholic Bible
The Last Judges: Eli and Samuel[a]
Chapter 1[b]
Elkanah’s Pilgrimage to Shiloh. 1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives. The name of one of them was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not have any children. 3 This man would travel from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts[c] in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests there.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 1:1 It is not by chance that Samuel gives his name to the entire book (with its two parts), for he receives a very special call and is chosen to be a prophet and leader in Israel. His main task will be to help the chosen people make the transition from a confederacy to a monarchy without losing, in the process, their direct and exclusive attachment to Yahweh, who will always be their sole Lord. The initial picture of Samuel occupies the first seven chapters.
- 1 Samuel 1:1 As in the case of Isaac, Samson, and John the Baptist, a child given to a barren woman has a special destiny.
- 1 Samuel 1:3 Lord of hosts: Hebrew, Jahve seba’ot. The meaning is that God is the God of all the creatures, heavenly and earthly, in the universe, and that these are regarded as a single well-ordered multitude of beings.