1 Samuel 1:20

20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[a] saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

1 Samuel 1:20 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
English Standard Version (ESV)
20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the LORD."
New Living Translation (NLT)
20 and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the LORD for him.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
20 Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, "I asked God for him."
American Standard Version (ASV)
20 And it came to pass, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Samuel, [saying], Because I have asked him of Jehovah.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
20 Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel [God Hears], because she said, "I asked the LORD for him."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because [she said], "I requested him from the Lord."
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
20 After some time, Hannah became pregnant. She had a baby boy. She said, "I asked the LORD for him." So she named him Samuel.

1 Samuel 1:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 1:20

Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about, after
Hannah had conceived
Or, "at the revolutions of days" F2; at the end of a year, of a complete year, as Ben Melech, from their return from Shiloh; for it might be some time after their return that she conceived; or rather the sense is, that at nine months' end, the usual time of a woman's going with child from her conception, which is the date here given:

that she bare a son:
was brought to bed of a son:

and called his name Samuel, [saying], because I have asked him of the
Lord;
one would think rather his name should have been Saul, for the reason given; but, as Ben Gersom observes, givers of names are not always grammatically strict and critical in them, or in the etymology of them, as in the names of Reuben and Noah, in which he instances; and this may be the rather overlooked in a woman, than in a man of learning. According to Kimchi, it is as if it was Saulmeel; that is, "asked of God", and by contraction Samuel; but Hillerus F3 gives a better account of this name, and takes it to be composed of Saul-mul-el, "asked before God", "in the sight of God", "before the ark of God". This name Hannah gave her son (for sometimes the father, and sometimes the mother, gave the name) in memory of the wonderful favour and goodness of God in granting her request; and to impress her own mind with a sense of the obligation she lay under, to perform her vow, and to engage her son the more readily to give up himself to the service of God, when he reflected on his name, and the reason of it.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mymyh twpqtl) "in revolutionibus dierum", Montanus; so Piscator.
F3 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 418, 419, 487.

1 Samuel 1:20 In-Context

18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.
20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”
21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,
22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Genesis 17:19; S Genesis 29:32; S Genesis 30:6
  • 2. Genesis 41:51-52; Exodus 2:10; Exodus 2:10,22; Matthew 1:21
  • 3. 1 Samuel 7:5; 1 Samuel 12:23; 1 Chronicles 6:27; Jeremiah 15:1; Hebrews 11:32

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. "Samuel" sounds like the Hebrew for "heard by God."
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