A Beloved Wife With Empty Arms
1 1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim named Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. 3 Each year he went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Father of heaven's armies at Shiloh, where Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of our Father. 4 When Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to his wife Peninnah and all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though our Father had closed her womb. 6 Because our Father had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her bitterly to make her miserable. 7 Year after year, whenever Hannah went up to the house of our Father, Peninnah provoked her, so she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah asked her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"
9 After they ate and drank at Shiloh, Hannah rose. Eli the priest sat on the seat by the doorpost of our Father's temple. 10 Deeply distressed, she prayed to our Father and wept bitterly. 11 She vowed, "Father of heaven's armies, if you will only see your servant's suffering, remember me, not forget your servant, and give her a son, I will give him to our Father all his life, and no razor will touch his head." a a v11 Leaving a child's hair uncut was the outward sign of a Nazirite vow — a lifelong consecration to God (see Numbers 6).
12 As she kept on praying before our Father, Eli watched her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart; her lips moved but no voice was heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. 14 He said to her, "How long will you stay drunk? Put away your wine."
15 "No, my lord," Hannah answered. "I'm a woman deeply troubled in spirit. I've drunk no wine or strong drink but have poured out my soul before our Father." 16 Don't take your servant for a worthless woman; I've been praying here from my deep anguish and grief.
17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the Father of Israel grant what you asked of him."
18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then the woman went her way and ate, her face no longer downcast.
19 Early next morning they rose, worshiped before our Father, and returned home to Ramah. Elkanah was intimate with Hannah his wife, and our Father remembered her.
20 In time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked our Father for him." b b v20 The name Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for "asked of God" — Hannah named him for the very son she had begged from our Father.
21 When Elkanah and all his household went up to offer the yearly sacrifice to our Father and fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah didn't go. She told her husband, "When the boy is weaned, I'll bring him to appear before our Father, and he'll stay there forever."
23 "Do what seems best to you," her husband Elkanah said. "Stay until you have weaned him; only may our Father keep his word." So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 After weaning him, she brought the boy, with a three-year-old bull, twenty-five pounds of flour, and a jug of wine, to the house of our Father at Shiloh; and the child was young. 25 They slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli. 26 Hannah said, "Oh, my lord, as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to our Father." 27 I prayed for this child, and our Father has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So I give him to our Father. His whole life he is given to him." And he worshiped our Father there.
