1 Samuel 1–28

The Family of Elkanah

1There 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.^{a 2}He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³Now this man used to go up from his town year by year^b to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh, where^c the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to Yahweh. ⁴On^d the day Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵But to Hannah he would give a double portion,^e because he loved Hannah, though Yahweh had closed her womb. ⁶(Now her rival wife would provoke her severely in order to upset her because Yahweh had closed her womb.) ⁷And so he used to do^f year after year; whenever^g she went up to the house of Yahweh, she^h would provoke her so that sheⁱ would weep and would not eat. ⁸So Elkanah her husband would say to her: “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And why are you heartsick?^j Am I not better to you than ten sons?” ⁹Then Hannah got up after eating and drinking at Shiloh. (Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the temple^k of Yahweh.) ¹⁰She was deeply troubled,^l so she prayed to Yahweh and wept bitterly. ¹¹She made a vow^m and said: “O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant a male childⁿ then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head.”^{o 12}While^p she continued to pray before Yahweh, Eli was observing her mouth. ¹³Now Hannah had been speaking in her heart; her lips were moving, but her voice could not be heard, so Eli considered her to be drunk. ¹⁴Then Eli said to her, “How long will you behave like someone who is drunk? Put away your wine!” ¹⁵But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord. I am a woman deeply distressed,^q but I have not drunk wine or strong drink. Rather, I have poured out my soul before Yahweh. ¹⁶Do not regard your female servant as worthless,^r but because of the extent of my worries and my provocation I have spoken all of this.” ¹⁷Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your request that you have asked of him.” ¹⁸And she said, “May your female slave find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went on her way and ate something, and her face did not look sad any longer.^s

The Birth of Samuel

¹⁹Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh and returned^t to their house at Ramah. Then Elkanah had sexual relations with^u Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her. ²⁰In due time,^v Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She called his name Samuel, for she said, “I requested him from Yahweh.”

²¹So the man Elkanah went up with all his household to make the annual sacrifice^w to Yahweh and to pay his vow. ²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear before Yahweh; and he will remain there forever.” ²³So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems right to you;^x stay until you wean him. Only may Yahweh fulfill his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴Then she brought him up with her when she had weaned him, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin^y of wine. She brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh while the boy was still young. ²⁵They slaughtered the bull, and they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶She said, “Excuse me, my lord. As you live,^z my lord, I am the woman who stood with you in this place to pray to Yahweh. ²⁷I prayed for this boy, and Yahweh has given me my request that I asked from him. ²⁸I in turn have lent him to Yahweh. As long as he lives^a he is lent to Yahweh.” Then they worshiped Yahweh there.

2Then Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in Yahweh, my strength is exalted in Yahweh; I grin^a over my enemies, for I rejoice over your salvation.

²There is no one holy like Yahweh, for there is no one besides you,

and there is no rock like our God.

³Do not increase speaking very proud^b words!

Let no arrogance go forth from your mouth,

for Yahweh is a God of knowledge

whose deeds are not weighed.^c

⁴The bows of mighty warriors are shattered,

but those who stumble gird themselves with strength.

⁵Those who were full must hire themselves out for bread,

but those who are hungry will become fat.

As for the infertile, she will bear seven,

but she who has many sons withers away.

⁶Yahweh kills and restores alive,

he brings down to Sheol^d and raises up.

⁷Yahweh makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low and also exalts.

⁸He raises up the poor from the dust.

From the ash heap he lifts up the needy,

to cause them to sit with noble people

and to cause them to inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth belong to Yahweh

and he has set the inhabited world on them.

⁹He will guard the feet of his faithful^e ones,

but the wicked will be destroyed^f in the darkness,

because a man will not prevail by his might.

¹⁰Yahweh will shatter^g his adversaries;^h

he will thunder against them in the heavens.

Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give strength to his king

and will exalt the might of his anointed one.

¹¹Then Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. Now the boy was serving Yahweh in the presence ofⁱ Eli the priest.

The Family of Eli the Priest

¹²Now the sons of Eli were worthless scoundrels;^j they did not know^k Yahweh. ¹³And the custom of the priests with the people was this: When any man brought a sacrifice,^l as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand ¹⁴and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh. ¹⁵Also, before they offered up^m the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only raw.”^{n 16}And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat completely first,^o then take for yourself as you^p desire,” then he would say to him, “No!^q Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!” ¹⁷So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.

Samuel’s Life in the Tabernacle

¹⁸Now Samuel was serving before Yahweh, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him year by year^r whenever she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.^{s 20}And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and he said, “May Yahweh give you an offspring from this woman in place of the petitioned one that she requested from Yahweh.” Then they went to their home. ²¹Yahweh took note of Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, while the young man Samuel grew up with Yahweh.

Eli Rebukes His Evil Sons

²²Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they were having sexual relations with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of assembly.^{t 23}And he asked them, “Why are you doing all these things that I am hearing, namely, your evil dealings with all these people? ²⁴No, my sons, the report is not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading. ²⁵If a man sins against a man, then God can intercede for him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?” But they did not obey^u their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them. ²⁶But the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor^v with Yahweh and with the people.

Yahweh Rebukes Eli

²⁷Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your ancestor^w when they were in Egypt under the house of Pharaoh? ²⁸And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to bear an ephod before me. I gave to the house of your ancestor^x all the offerings made by fire by the Israelites.^{y 29}Why do you despise my sacrifice and my offering which I commanded for my dwelling place, while you honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel? ³⁰Therefore,’ declares^z Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor^a would walk before me forever, but now,’ declares^b Yahweh, ‘far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt! ³¹Look, days are coming when I will cut off your strength^c and the strength^d of the house of your ancestor^e so that no one in your house will live to old age.^{f 32}You will look at the distress of my dwelling place, despite all the good caused for Israel, but there will never be an old man in your household forever!^{g 33}The only one I will not cut off from my altar is you.^h Rather, to cause your eyes to fail and to cause your soul to grieve, all the members of your householdⁱ will die as men.^{j 34}This is the sign for you that will come regarding your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: they will both die on the same day! ³⁵But I will raise up for myself a reliable^k priest; he will do just according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build for him a lasting^l house and he will walk continually before my anointed one forever.^{m 36}All the remainder of your household will come to bow down beforeⁿ him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, “Please assign me to one of the…