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Hannah’s Prayer of Praise

Then Hannah prayed:

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

“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.
The bow of the mighty is now broken,
    and those who stumbled are now strong.
Those 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.
The Lord gives both death and life;
    he brings some down to the grave[b] but raises others up.
The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
    he brings some down and lifts others up.
He 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.

“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[c] of his anointed one.”

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

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Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Hebrew has exalted my horn.
  2. 2:6 Hebrew to Sheol.
  3. 2:10 Hebrew he exalts the horn.

This was Hannah’s prayer:

“How I rejoice in the Lord!

How he has blessed me!

Now I have an answer for my enemies,

For the Lord has solved my problem.

How I rejoice!

No one is as holy as the Lord!

There is no other God,

Nor any Rock like our God.

Quit acting so proud and arrogant!

The Lord knows what you have done,

And he will judge your deeds.

Those who were mighty are mighty no more!

Those who were weak are now strong.

Those who were well are now starving;

Those who were starving are fed.

The barren woman now has seven children;

She with many children has no more!

The Lord kills,

The Lord gives life.

Some he causes to be poor

And others to be rich.

He cuts one down

And lifts another up.

He lifts the poor from the dust—

Yes, from a pile of ashes—

And treats them as princes

Sitting in the seats of honor.

For all the earth is the Lord’s

And he has set the world in order.

He will protect his godly ones,

But the wicked shall be silenced in darkness.

No one shall succeed by strength alone.

10 Those who fight against the Lord shall be broken;

He thunders against them from heaven.

He judges throughout the earth.

He gives mighty strength to his king,

And gives great glory to his anointed one.”

11 So they returned home to Ramah without Samuel; and the child became the Lord’s helper, for he assisted Eli the priest.

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