Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Trust in God

Of David.

Samuel’s Birth

1 There was a man named Elkanah son of Jeroham. He was from Ramathaim in the mountains of Ephraim. Elkanah was from the family of Zuph. (Jeroham was Elihu’s son. Elihu was Tohu’s son. And Tohu was the son of Zuph from the family group of Ephraim.) ² Elkanah had two wives. One was named Hannah, and the other was named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³ Every year Elkanah left his town Ramah and went up to Shiloh. There he worshiped the Lord of heaven’s armies and offered sacrifices to him. Shiloh was where Hophni and Phinehas served as priests of the Lord. They were the sons of Eli. ⁴ When Elkanah offered sacrifices, he always gave a share of the meat to his wife Peninnah. He also gave shares of the meat to her sons and daughters. ⁵ But Elkanah always gave a special share of the meat to Hannah. He did this because he loved Hannah and because the Lord had made Hannah unable to have children. ⁶ Peninnah would upset Hannah and make her feel bad. She did this because the Lord had made Hannah unable to have children. ⁷ This happened every year when they went up to the Tent of the Lord at Shiloh. Peninnah would upset Hannah until Hannah would cry and not eat anything. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you sad? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹ Once, after they had eaten their meal in Shiloh, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the entrance to the Lord’s Holy Tent. ¹⁰ Hannah was very sad. She cried much and prayed to the Lord. ¹¹ She made a promise. She said, “Lord of heaven’s armies, see how bad I feel. Remember me! Don’t forget me. If you will give me a son, I will give him back to you all his life. And no one will ever use a razor to cut his hair.”^[a]

¹² While Hannah kept praying, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ She was praying in her heart. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, “Stop getting drunk! Throw away your wine!”

¹⁵ Hannah answered, “No, master, I have not drunk any wine or beer. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I was telling the Lord about all my problems. ¹⁶ Don’t think of me as an evil woman. I have been praying because of my many troubles and much sadness.”

¹⁷ Eli answered, “Go in peace. May the God of Israel give you what you asked of him.”

¹⁸ Hannah said, “I want to be pleasing to you always.” Then she left and ate something. She was not sad anymore.

¹⁹ Early the next morning Elkanah’s family got up and worshiped the Lord. Then they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intimate relations with his wife Hannah. And the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ So Hannah became pregnant, and in time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel.^[b] She said, “His name is Samuel because I asked the Lord for him.”

Paul’s Authority Is from God

¹¹ Brothers, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made by men. ¹² I did not get it from men, nor did any man teach it to me. Jesus Christ showed it to me.

¹³ You have heard about my past life. I belonged to the Jewish religion. I hurt the church of God very much and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion. I did better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the old rules. These rules were the customs handed down by our ancestors.

¹⁵ But God had special plans for me even before I was born. So he called me through his grace that I might ¹⁶ tell the Good News about his Son to the non-Jewish people. So God showed me about his Son. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any man. ¹⁷ I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia and later went back to Damascus.

¹⁸ After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for 15 days. ¹⁹ I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ God knows that these things I write are not lies. ²¹ Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.

²² In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me. ²³ They had only heard this about me: “This man was trying to hurt us. But now he is preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And these believers praised God because of me.