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Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh[a] of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. So year by year, when she went up to Yahweh’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat. Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:3 “Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.

Elkanah and His Family

There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph[a] in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion[b] because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle.[c] Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.

“Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:1 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads in Ramathaim-zophim; compare 1:19.
  2. 1:5 Or And because he loved Hannah, he would give her a choice portion. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  3. 1:7 Hebrew the house of the Lord; also in 1:24.