¹¹ Also God said to him: ^(A)“I am God Almighty. ^(B)Be fruitful and multiply; ^(C)a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

The Sign of the Covenant^(A)

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord ^(B)appeared to Abram and said to him, ^(C)“I am ^[a]Almighty God; ^(D)walk before Me and be ^(E)blameless.

^3 (A)I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as ^(B)God Almighty, but by My name ^(C)Lord^[a] I was not known to them.

¹⁷ blessing I will ^(A)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(B)as the stars of the heaven ^(C)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(D)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

⁵ No longer shall ^(A)your name be called ^[a]Abram, but your name shall be ^[b]Abraham; ^(B)for I have made you a father of ^[c]many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make ^(C)nations of you, and ^(D)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(E)establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^(F)to be God to you and ^(G)your descendants after you.

¹⁶ And I will bless her ^(A)and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother ^(B)of nations; ^(C)kings of peoples shall be from her.”

The Family of Elkanah

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the ^(A)mountains of Ephraim, and his name was ^(B)Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of ^[a]Elihu, the son of ^[b]Tohu, the son of Zuph, ^(C)an Ephraimite. ² And he had ^(D)two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ This man went up from his city ^(E)yearly ^(F)to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in ^(G)Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. ⁴ And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an ^(H)offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, ^(I)although the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ And her rival also ^(J)provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.

Hannah’s Vow

⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not ^(K)better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of ^(L)the ^[c]tabernacle of the Lord. ^10 (M)And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and ^[d]wept in anguish. ¹¹ Then she ^(N)made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed ^(O)look on the affliction of Your maidservant and ^(P)remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and ^(Q)no razor shall come upon his head.”

¹² And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”

¹⁵ But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have ^(R)poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not consider your maidservant a ^(S)wicked^[e] woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”

¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, ^(T)“Go in peace, and ^(U)the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”

¹⁸ And she said, ^(V)“Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman ^(W)went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Samuel Is Born and Dedicated

¹⁹ Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah ^(X)knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord ^(Y)remembered her. ²⁰ So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name ^[f]Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”

²¹ Now the man Elkanah and all his house ^(Z)went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will ^(AA)take him, that he may appear before the Lord and ^(AB)remain there ^(AC)forever.”

²³ So ^(AD)Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord ^[g]establish ^[h]His word.” Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, she ^(AE)took him up with her, with ^[i]three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to ^(AF)the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. ²⁵ Then they slaughtered a bull, and ^(AG)brought the child to Eli. ²⁶ And she said, “O my lord! ^(AH)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. ^27 (AI)For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. ²⁸ Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be ^[j]lent to the Lord.” So they ^(AJ)worshiped the Lord there.

The First Census of Israel^(A)

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses ^(B)in the Wilderness of Sinai, ^(C)in the tabernacle of meeting, on the ^(D)first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ^2 (E)“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male ^(F)individually, ³ from ^(G)twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. ⁴ And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.

⁵ “These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ⁶ from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷ from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸ from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹ from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰ from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹ from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹² from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³ from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran; ¹⁴ from Gad, Eliasaph the son of ^(H)Deuel;^{[a] 15} from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.” ^16 (I)These were ^(J)chosen^[b] from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, ^(K)heads of the divisions in Israel.

¹⁷ Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been ^[c]mentioned ^(L)by name, ¹⁸ and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ^(M)ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually. ¹⁹ As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰ Now the ^(N)children of Reuben, Israel’s oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²¹ those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

²² From the ^(O)children of Simeon, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, of those who were numbered, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²³ those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

²⁴ From the ^(P)children of Gad, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: ²⁵ those who were numbered of the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

²⁶ From the ^(Q)children of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: