1 Samuel 1:9–28

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.”

²¹The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised. ²²But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of the Lord, where he will stay all his life.”

²³Elkanah answered, “All right, do whatever you think best; stay at home until you have weaned him. And may the Lord make your^d promise come true.” So Hannah stayed at home and nursed her child.

²⁴After she had weaned him, she took him to Shiloh, taking along a three-year-old bull,^e 10 kilogrammes of flour, and a leather bag full of wine. She took Samuel, young as he was, to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. ²⁵After they had killed the bull, they took the child to Eli. ²⁶Hannah said to him, “Excuse me, sir. Do you remember me? I am the woman you saw standing here, praying to the Lord. ²⁷I asked him for this child, and he gave me what I asked for. ²⁸So I am dedicating him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he will belong to the Lord.”

Then they^f worshipped the Lord there.