New Heart English Bible

1 Samuel

1Samuel 1

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Toah, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the LORD, were there.

4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her womb.

6 Her rival taunted her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had shut up her womb.

7 As he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she taunted her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

8 Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

9 So Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh, and stood before the LORD. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

10 She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly.

11 She vowed a vow, and said, "LORD of hosts, 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 son, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. And he will not drink wine or strong drink, and no razor will come on his head."

12 It happened, as she multiplied prayers before the LORD, that Eli saw her mouth.

13 And she was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you."

15 And 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 the LORD.

16 Do not count your handmaid as a worthless woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my distress and my anguish."

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

18 She said, "Let your handmaid find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way, and entered her quarters, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad any more.

19 They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

20 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 the LORD."

21 The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and to redeem his vow and all the tithes of his land.

22 But Hannah did not go up; for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever."

23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems good in your eyes. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish what you have said." So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

24 And she went up with him to Shiloh with a three-year old bull, and bread, and one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was with them. And they went before the LORD, and his father slaughtered the sacrifice, which he did annually to the LORD. And he brought the child,

25 and he slaughtered the bull. And Hannah, the mother of the child, brought him to Eli.

26 She said, "Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD.

27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him.

28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is lent to the LORD." He worshiped the LORD there.