1 Samuel 2:1-17

Hannah’s Prayer

1 Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn^[a] is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

2 “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

3 “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

4 “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.

6 “The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.

7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; on them he has set the world.

9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails;

10 those who oppose the LORD will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD.

13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled

14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

17 This sin of the young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they^[b] were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

1 Samuel 2:1-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2

In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, 1Sa 2:1-10, and an account is given of the return of Elkanah and Hannah to their own home, and of the care she took yearly to provide a coat for Samuel, and of her being blessed with many other children, and of the growth and ministry of Samuel before the Lord, 1Sa 2:11,18-21,26, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, 1Sa 2:12-17, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, 1Sa 2:22-25 and of a sharp message sent him from the Lord on that account, threatening destruction to his house, of which the death of his two sons would be a sign, 1Sa 2:27-36.

Cross References

• 1. Luke 1:46-55
• 2. Psalms 13:5">Ps Psalms 13:5; Psalms 33:21; Zechariah 10:7; Psalms 9:14; Psalms 13:5
• 3. Psalms 18:2; Psalms 89:17,24; Psalms 92:10; Psalms 148:14; Isaiah 12:2-3
• 4. Psalms 6:8
• 5. S Numbers 10:35; Psalms 6:10
• 6. S Exodus 15:11; S Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2
• 7. S Exodus 8:10; Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 46:5
• 8. S Genesis 49:24; S Exodus 33:22; Deuteronomy 32:37; Deuteronomy 32:30-31; 2 Samuel 22:2,32; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 71:3
• 9. Psalms 17:10; Psalms 31:18; Psalms 73:8; Psalms 75:4; Psalms 94:4; Proverbs 8:13
• 10. S Joshua 22:22
• 11. 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 6:30; Proverbs 15:11; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 17:10
• 12. Proverbs 16:2; Proverbs 24:11-12
• 13. 2 Samuel 1:27; Psalms 37:15; Psalms 46:9; Psalms 76:3
• 14. Job 17:9; Isaiah 40:31; Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 57:10
• 15. Luke 1:53
• 16. Psalms 113:9; Isaiah 54:1; Jeremiah 15:9
• 17. Deuteronomy 32:39
• 18. Isaiah 26:19; Ezekiel 37:3,12
• 19. S Deuteronomy 8:18
• 20. Job 5:11; Job 40:12; Psalms 75:7; Isaiah 2:12; Isaiah 13:11; Isaiah 22:19; Daniel 4:37
• 21. Psalms 113:7-8
• 22. James 2:5
• 23. 1 Kings 16:2
• 24. Psalms 72:12; Psalms 107:41; Psalms 145:14; Psalms 146:8; S Matthew 23:12
• 25. 2 Samuel 7:8; Job 36:7; Isaiah 22:23; Ezekiel 21:26
• 26. Job 15:7; Job 38:4; Psalms 104:5; Proverbs 8:29; Isaiah 40:12; Jeremiah 10:12
• 27. Psalms 91:12; Psalms 121:3; Proverbs 3:26
• 28. Proverbs 2:8
• 29. Job 10:22; Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 8:22; Isaiah 59:9; Isaiah 60:2; Jeremiah 13:16; Amos 5:18,20; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Matthew 8:12
• 30. 1 Samuel 17:47; Psalms 33:16-17; Zechariah 4:6
• 31. S Exodus 15:6; Psalms 2:9
• 32. S Exodus 19:16; 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 12:17; 2 Samuel 22:14; Job 37:4,5; Job 38:1; Psalms 18:13; Psalms 29:3; Isaiah 66:6
• 33. Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; Matthew 25:31-32
• 34. Psalms 18:1; Psalms 21:1; Psalms 59:16
• 35. S Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalms 89:24; S Luke 1:69
• 36. S Joshua 18:25
• 37. ver 18; S Numbers 16:9; 1 Samuel 3:1
• 38. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 9:6
• 39. Deuteronomy 18:3
• 40. Leviticus 7:35-36; Leviticus 7:29-34
• 41. Lev 3:3,14-16; Leviticus 7:29-34
• 42. ver 22,29; S Numbers 14:11; Jeremiah 7:21; Ezekiel 22:26; Malachi 2:7-9

Footnotes

• [a] "Horn" here symbolizes strength; also in verse 10.
• [b] Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; Masoretic Text "people"