1 Samuel 1:1–20

Elkanah and His Family at Shiloh

1There was a man named Elkanah, from the tribe of Ephraim, who lived in the town of Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu, and belonged to the family of Tohu, a part of the clan of Zuph. ²Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. ³Every year Elkanah went from Ramah to worship and offer sacrifices to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. ⁴Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children. ⁵And even though he loved Hannah very much he would give her only one share, because^a the Lord had kept her from having children. ⁶Peninnah, her rival, would torment and humiliate her, because the Lord had kept her childless. ⁷This went on year after year; whenever they went to the house of the Lord, Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would cry and refuse to eat anything. ⁸Her husband Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Hannah and Eli

^9–10One day, after they had finished their meal in the house of the Lord at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door. ^11*Hannah made a solemn promise: “Almighty Lord, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don’t forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut.”^b

¹²Hannah continued to pray to the Lord for a long time, and Eli watched her lips. ¹³She was praying silently; her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk, ¹⁴and said to her, “Stop making a drunken show of yourself! Stop your drinking and sober up!”

¹⁵“No, I’m not drunk, sir,” she answered. “I haven’t been drinking! I am desperate, and I have been praying, pouring out my troubles to the Lord. ¹⁶Don’t think I am a worthless woman. I have been praying like this because I’m so miserable.”

¹⁷“Go in peace,” Eli said, “and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked him for.”

¹⁸“May you always think kindly of me,” she replied. Then she went away, ate some food, and was no longer sad.

Samuel’s Birth and Dedication

¹⁹The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early, and after worshipping the Lord, they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah, and the Lord answered her prayer. ²⁰So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,^c and explained, “I asked the Lord for him.”