Elkanah and His Wives

1 Now there was a man from ^(A)Ramathaim-zophim from the ^(B)hill country of Ephraim, and his name was ^(C)Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² And he had ^(D)two wives: the name of one was ^(E)Hannah and the name of the ^[a]other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ Now this man would go up from his city ^(F)yearly ^(G)to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of armies in ^(H)Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there. ⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he ^(I)would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, because he loved Hannah, ^(J)but the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, moreover, ^(K)would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ And it happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, that she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat, and why is your heart sad? ^(L)Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ Then Hannah got up after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of ^(M)the ^[b]temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She, ^[c]greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. ¹¹ And she ^(N)made a vow and said, “Lord of armies, if You will indeed ^(O)look on the affliction of Your bond-servant and remember me, and not forget Your bond-servant, but will give Your bond-servant a ^[d]son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and ^(P)a razor shall never come on his head.”

¹² Now it came about, as she ^[e]continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, ^(Q)she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were quivering, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought that she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “^(R)How long will you behave like a drunk? Get rid of your wine!” ¹⁵ But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman ^[f]despairing in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I ^(S)have poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not ^[g]consider your bond-servant a useless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, “^(T)Go in peace; and may the God of Israel ^(U)grant your request that you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ She said, “^(V)Let your bond-servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way and ate, and ^(W)her face was no longer sad.

Samuel Is Born to Hannah

¹⁹ Then they got up early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in ^(X)Ramah. And Elkanah ^[h]had relations with Hannah his wife, and ^(Y)the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ It came about ^[i]in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “^(Z)Because I have asked for him of the Lord.”

²¹ Then the man Elkanah ^(AA)went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go until the child is weaned; then I will ^(AB)bring him, so that he may appear before the Lord and ^(AC)stay there for life.” ^23 (AD)Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do ^[j]what seems best to you. Stay until you have weaned him; only ^(AE)may the Lord confirm His word.” So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, ^(AF)she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull, one ephah of flour, and a jug of wine, and brought him to ^(AG)the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was young. ²⁵ Then ^(AH)they ^[k]slaughtered the bull, and ^(AI)brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ And she said, “Pardon me, my lord! ^(AJ)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. ^27 (AK)For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my request which I asked of Him. ^28 (AL)So I have also ^[l]dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is ^[m]dedicated to the Lord.” And ^(AM)he worshiped the Lord there.

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 ^(A)What shall we say then? Are we to ^(B)continue in sin so that grace may increase? ^2 [a](C)Far from it! How shall we who ^(D)died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been ^(E)baptized into ^(F)Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we have been ^(G)buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was ^(H)raised from the dead through the ^(I)glory of the Father, so we too may walk in ^(J)newness of life. ⁵ For ^(K)if we have become ^[b]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ^[c]in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our ^(L)old ^[d]self was ^(M)crucified with Him, in order that our ^(N)body of sin might be ^[e]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for ^(O)the one who has died is ^[f]freed from sin.

⁸ Now ^(P)if we have died with Christ, we believe that ^(Q)we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been ^(R)raised from the dead, ^[g]is never to die again; ^(S)death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For ^[h]the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but ^[i]the life that He lives, He lives to ^[j]God. ¹¹ So you too, consider yourselves to be ^(T)dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore sin is not to ^(U)reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on ^(V)presenting ^[k]the parts of your body to sin as ^[l]instruments of unrighteousness; but ^(W)present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and ^[m]your body’s parts as ^[n]instruments of righteousness for God. ¹⁴ For ^(X)sin shall not ^(Y)be master over you, for ^(Z)you are not under ^[o]the Law but ^(AA)under grace.

¹⁵ What then? ^(AB)Are we to sin because we are not under ^[p]the Law but under grace? ^[q](AC)Far from it! ¹⁶ Do you not ^(AD)know that the one to whom you present yourselves as ^(AE)slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of ^(AF)sin ^[r]resulting in death, or of obedience ^[s]resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(AG)thanks be to God that ^[t]though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that ^[u](AH)form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and after being ^(AI)freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. ^19 (AJ)I am speaking ^[v]in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^(AK)as you presented ^[w]the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ^[x]resulting in further lawlessness, so now present ^[y]your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, ^[z]resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For ^(AL)when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what ^[aa](AM)benefit were you then ^[ab]deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is ^(AN)death. ²² But now having been ^(AO)freed from sin and ^(AP)enslaved to God, you ^[ac]derive your ^[ad](AQ)benefit, ^[ae]resulting in sanctification, and ^(AR)the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of ^(AS)sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^(AT)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hannah’s Song of Thanksgiving

2 Then Hannah ^(A)prayed and said,

¹¹ Then Elkanah went to his home at ^(AD)Ramah. ^(AE)But the boy continued to attend to the service of the Lord before Eli the priest.

The Sin of Eli’s Sons

¹² Now the sons of Eli were ^[g](AF)useless men; they did not know the Lord. ^13 (AG)And this was the custom of the priests with the people: when anyone was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was cooking, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ And he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; everything that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. They did so in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵ Also, before ^(AH)they ^[h]burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take cooked meat from you, only raw.” ¹⁶ And if the man said to him, “They must ^[i]burn the fat ^[j]first, then take as much as ^[k]you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you must give it to me now; and if not, I am taking it by force!” ¹⁷ And so the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men ^(AI)treated the offering of the Lord disrespectfully.

Samuel before the Lord as a Boy

¹⁸ Now ^(AJ)Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy ^(AK)wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother would make for him a little ^(AL)robe and bring it up to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer ^(AM)the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would ^(AN)bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you ^[l]children from this woman in place of the ^[m]one she ^(AO)requested of the Lord.” And they went to their own ^[n]home.

^21 [o](AP)The Lord indeed visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And ^(AQ)the boy Samuel grew up ^[p]before the Lord.

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem

2 Now in those days a decree went out from ^(A)Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of ^(B)all ^[a]the inhabited earth. ^2 [b]This was the first census taken while ^[c]Quirinius was governor of ^(C)Syria. ³ And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because ^(D)he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was ^[d]betrothed to him, and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the ^[e]time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she ^(E)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a ^[f]manger, because there was no ^[g]room for them in the inn.

⁸ In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. ⁹ And ^(F)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(G)stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ And so the angel said to them, “^(H)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a ^(I)Savior, who is ^[h](J)Christ ^(K)the Lord. ¹² And ^(L)this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ^[i]manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly ^[j]army of angels praising God and saying,

¹⁵ When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the ^[l]manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen Him, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary ^(O)treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds went back, ^(P)glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Jesus Presented at the Temple

²¹ And when ^(Q)eight days were completed ^[m]so that it was time for His circumcision, ^(R)He was also named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.