1 Samuel 1:19-2:1

GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁹Early in the morning Elkanah and his family got up and worshiped in front of the Lord. Then they returned home to Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel [God Hears], because she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”

Samuel’s Childhood

²¹To keep his vow, Elkanah and his entire household again went to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord. ²²But Hannah didn’t go. She told her husband, “I’ll wait until the boy is weaned. Then I’ll bring him and present him to the Lord, and he’ll stay there permanently.”

²³“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Wait until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord keep his word.” The woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴As soon as she had weaned Samuel, she took him with her. She also brought a three-year-old bull,^[a] half a bushel of flour, and a full wineskin. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh while the boy was ⌞still⌟ a child.

²⁵Then the parents butchered the bull and brought the child to Eli. ²⁶“Sir,” Hannah said, “as sure as you live, I’m the woman who stood here next to you and prayed to the Lord. ²⁷I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request. ²⁸In return, I am giving him to the Lord. He will be dedicated to the Lord for his whole life.”

And they worshiped the Lord there.