So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, and wept bitterly. She vowed a vow, and said, “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.”

It happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli saw her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunken? Put away your wine from you.”

Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. Don’t count your handmaid for a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”

Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”

She said, “Let your handmaid find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more. They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.

It happened, when the time had come, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”

The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. But Hannah didn’t go up; for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there forever.”

Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word.”

So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to Yahweh’s house in Shiloh. The child was young. They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have granted him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is granted to Yahweh.” He worshiped Yahweh there.

1:17 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “Elohim.”

1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for “heard by God.”

1:24 1 ephah is about 22 litres or about 2/3 of a bushel

“My heart exults in Yahweh!

My horn is exalted in Yahweh.

My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,

because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is no one as holy as Yahweh,

For there is no one besides you,

nor is there any rock like our God.

 

“Talk no more so exceeding proudly.

Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth,

For Yahweh is a God of knowledge.

By him actions are weighed.

 

“The bows of the mighty men are broken.

Those who stumbled are armed with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.

Those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

Yes, the barren has borne seven.

She who has many children languishes.

 

“Yahweh kills, and makes alive.

He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.

Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich.

He brings low, he also lifts up.

He raises up the poor out of the dust.

He lifts up the needy from the dunghill,

To make them sit with princes,

and inherit the throne of glory.

For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s.

He has set the world on them.

He will keep the feet of his holy ones,

but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;

for no man shall prevail by strength.

Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces.

He will thunder against them in the sky.

 

“Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give strength to his king,

and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to Yahweh before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn’t know Yahweh. The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he wi

2:6 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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He said, “I didn’t call; lie down again.”

He went and lay down. Yahweh called yet again, “Samuel!”

Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.”

He answered, “I didn’t call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel didn’t yet know Yahweh, neither was the word of Yahweh yet revealed to him. Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.”

Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”

Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be removed with sacrifice nor offering forever.”

Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son!”

He said, “Here I am.”

He said, “What is the thing that Yahweh has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.”

Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him.

He said, “It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him.”

Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh. Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.

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So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” They understood that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp. The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!” The Philistines fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled every man to his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. The ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. There ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with earth on his head. When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?”

The man hurried, and came and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. The man said to Eli, “I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.”

He said, “How did the matter go, my son?”

He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

It happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered. When she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her. About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid; for you have brought forth a son.” But she didn’t answer, neither did she regard it. She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel;” because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.”

4:21 “Ichabod” means “no glory.”

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When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us; for his hand is severe on us, and on Dagon our god.” They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”

They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” They carried the ark of the God of Israel there. It was so, that after they had carried it about, the hand of Yahweh was against the city with a very great confusion: and he struck the men of the city, both small and great; and tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

It happened, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.