1 Samuel 1:21-2:11

New Living Translation

²¹The next year Elkanah and his family went on their annual trip to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow. ²²But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “Wait until the boy is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the Lord permanently.^[a]”

²³“Whatever you think is best,” Elkanah agreed. “Stay here for now, and may the Lord help you keep your promise.^[b]” So she stayed home and nursed the boy until he was weaned.

²⁴When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull^[c] for the sacrifice and a basket^[d] of flour and some wine. ²⁵After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶“Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. ²⁷I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. ²⁸Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they^[e] worshiped the Lord there.

Hannah’s Prayer of Praise

2 Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
    The Lord has made me strong.^[f]
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
    I rejoice because you rescued me.
²No one is holy like the Lord!
    There is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.

³“Stop acting so proud and haughty!
    Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
    he will judge your actions.
⁴The bow of the mighty is now broken,
    and those who stumbled are now strong.
⁵Those who were well fed are now starving,
    and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
    and the woman with many children wastes away.
⁶The Lord gives both death and life;
    he brings some down to the grave^[g] but raises others up.
⁷The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
    he brings some down and lifts others up.
⁸He lifts the poor from the dust
    and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
    placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
    and he has set the world in order.

⁹“He will protect his faithful ones,
    but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
¹⁰    Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
    the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
    he increases the strength^[h] of his anointed one.”

¹¹Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

Footnotes

1:22 Some manuscripts add I will offer him as a Nazirite for all time.
1:23 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads may the Lord keep his promise.
1:24a As in Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek and Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads three bulls.
1:24b Hebrew and an ephah [20 quarts or 22 liters].
1:28 Hebrew he.
2:1 Hebrew has exalted my horn.
2:6 Hebrew to Sheol.
2:10 Hebrew he exalts the horn.