1 Samuel 1:4-15

Good News Translation

⁴ Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children. ⁵ And even though he loved Hannah very much he would give her only one share, because^[a] the Lord had kept her from having children. ⁶ Peninnah, her rival, would torment and humiliate her, because the Lord had kept her childless. ⁷ This went on year after year; whenever they went to the house of the Lord, Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would cry and refuse to eat anything. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Hannah and Eli

^9-10 One time, after they had finished their meal in the house of the Lord at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door. ^11 (A)Hannah made a solemn promise: “Lord Almighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut.”^[b]

¹² Hannah continued to pray to the Lord for a long time, and Eli watched her lips. ¹³ She was praying silently; her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk, ¹⁴ and he said to her, “Stop making a drunken show of yourself Stop your drinking and sober up!”

¹⁵ “No, I'm not drunk, sir,” she answered. “I haven't been drinking! I am desperate, and I have been praying, pouring out my troubles to the Lord.