19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah.(A) Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered(B) her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.(C) She named(D) him Samuel,[a](E) saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual(F) sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow,(G) 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present(H) him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”[b]

23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good(I) his[c] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned(J) him.

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,[d](K) an ephah[e] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed(L) for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life(M) he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God.
  2. 1 Samuel 1:22 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls always. I have dedicated him as a Nazirite—all the days of his life.”
  3. 1 Samuel 1:23 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac your
  4. 1 Samuel 1:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text with three bulls
  5. 1 Samuel 1:24 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms

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