1 Samuel 1; 1 Samuel 2

1 Samuel 1

1 There 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.

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.

3 Now this man used to go up from his town {year by year} to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh, {where} the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [were] priests to Yahweh.

4 {On} the day Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

5 But to Hannah he would give {a double portion}, 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.)

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.

11 She {made a vow} 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 child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

12 {While} she continued to pray before Yahweh, Eli was observing her mouth.

13 Now 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.

14 Then Eli said to her, "How long will you behave like someone [who is] drunk? Put away your wine!"

15 But Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord. I am a woman {deeply distressed}, but I have not drunk wine [or] strong drink. [Rather], I have poured out my soul before Yahweh.

16 Do not regard your female servant as {worthless}, but because of the extent of my worries and my provocation I have spoken all of this."

17 Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your request that you have asked of him."

18 And 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}.

19 Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh {and returned} to their house at Ramah. Then Elkanah {had sexual relations with} Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.

20 {In due time}, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She called his name Samuel, for [she said], "I requested him from Yahweh."

21 So the man Elkanah went up with all his household {to make the annual sacrifice} to Yahweh and [to pay] his vow.

22 But 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."

23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, "{Do what seems right to you}; stay until you wean him. Only may Yahweh fulfill his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

24 Then she brought him up with her when she had weaned him, [along] with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh while the boy [was still] young.

25 They slaughtered the bull, and they brought the boy to Eli.

26 She said, "Excuse me, my lord. As {you live}, my lord, I [am] the woman who stood with you in this [place] to pray to Yahweh.

27 I prayed for this boy, and Yahweh has given me my request that I asked from him.

28 I in turn have lent him to Yahweh. {As long as he lives} he [is] lent to Yahweh." Then they worshiped Yahweh there.

1 Samuel 2

1 Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in Yahweh, my strength [is] exalted in Yahweh; {I grin} over my enemies, for I rejoice over your salvation.

2 There is no one holy like Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, and there is no rock like our God.

3 Do not increase speaking {very proud} words! Let no arrogance go forth from your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge [whose] deeds are not weighed.

4 The bows of mighty warriors [are] shattered, but those who stumble gird [themselves with] strength.

5 Those 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.

6 Yahweh kills and restores alive, he brings down [to] Sheol and raises up.

7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and also exalts.

8 He 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.

9 He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked will be destroyed in the darkness, because a man will not prevail by [his] might.

10 Yahweh will shatter his adversaries; 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.

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

12 Now the sons of Eli [were] {worthless scoundrels}; they did not know Yahweh.

13 And the custom of the priests with the people [was this]: When any man {brought a sacrifice}, as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand

14 and 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.

15 Also, before they {offered up} 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}."

16 And [if] the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat completely {first}, then take for yourself as {you} desire," then he would say to him, "No! Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!"

17 So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.

18 Now Samuel [was] serving before Yahweh, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.

19 His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him {year by year} whenever she came up with her husband to offer the {annual sacrifice}.

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.

21 Yahweh 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.

22 Now 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.

23 And he asked them, "Why are you doing all these things that I am hearing, [namely], your evil dealings with all these people?

24 No, my sons, the report [is] not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading.

25 If 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} their father, because Yahweh wanted to kill them.

26 But the boy Samuel {continued to grow in stature and in favor} with Yahweh and with the people.

27 Now 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 when they were in Egypt under the house of Pharaoh?

28 And 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 all the offerings made by fire by the {Israelites}.

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?

30 Therefore,' {declares} Yahweh the God of Israel, 'though I solemnly said that your house and the house of your ancestor would walk before me forever, but now,' {declares} Yahweh, 'far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me, I will treat with contempt!

31 Look, days [are] coming when I will cut off your {strength} and the {strength} of the house of your ancestor {so that no one in your house will live to old age}.

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}!

33 The only one I will not cut off from my altar [is you]. [Rather], to cause your eyes to fail and to cause your soul to grieve, {all the members of your household} will die [as] men.

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!

35 But I will raise up for myself a reliable priest; he will do just according to what [is] in my heart and in my soul. I will build for him a lasting house and he will walk continually before my anointed one {forever}.

36 All the remainder of your household will come to bow down {before} him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, "Please assign me to one of the {priestly offices} so that I can eat a morsel of bread." '"