1 Samuel 1:8

8 So Elkanah her husband would say to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And {why are you heartsick}?^[a] Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

1 Samuel 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 1:8

Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest
thou?
&c.] Since it was a time of rejoicing, as every festival was, especially at the ingathering of the fruits of the earth:

and why eatest thou not?
since they were at a feast, and she had the best part and portion of the provision:

and why is thy heart grieved?
to such a degree that she could neither eat nor drink:

am not I better to thee than ten sons?
which, as Jarchi says, Peninnah had borne to him; his meaning is, that the share she had in his love and affections ought to have been esteemed by her more than if she had ten or many children by him; and it suggests that Peninnah would have been glad to have such a share in his affections as Hannah had; and it would have been more eligible to her, than to have borne him so many children as she had.

1 Samuel 1:8 In-Context

6 (Now her rival wife would provoke her severely in order to upset her because Yahweh had closed her womb.)

7 And so he used to do year after year; {whenever} she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her so that she would weep and would not eat.

8 So Elkanah her husband would say to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And {why are you heartsick}? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

9 Then Hannah got up after eating and drinking at Shiloh. (Now Eli the priest [was] sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.)

10 She [was] {deeply troubled}, so she prayed to Yahweh and wept bitterly.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "why [is] your heart evil"