Ironically, while Hannah does not deserve such an epithet, Eli’s own sons very much do and are explicitly branded as bĕnê-bĕliyyā‘al (‘sons of belial’) when we meet them in 2:12. Eli may be obtuse, but he is not unkind to Hannah: Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him (v. 17). Hannah responds deferentially to Eli and then departs and eats something, and her face was no longer downcast. Nothing has yet materially changed in Hannah’s circumstances, but she appears