Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of David.

Elkanah’s Family Worships at Shiloh

1 There was a man named Elkanah from the Zuph family who lived in Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. Elkanah was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph from the tribe of Ephraim.

² Elkanah had two wives. One wife was named Hannah and the other wife was named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

³ Every year Elkanah left his town of Ramah and went up to Shiloh. He worshiped the Lord All-Powerful at Shiloh and offered sacrifices to the Lord there. Shiloh was where Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as priests of the Lord. ⁴ Whenever Elkanah offered his sacrifices, he always gave one share of the food to his wife Peninnah and a share of the food to each of Peninnah’s children. ⁵ Elkanah always gave an equal share^[a] of the food to Hannah. He did this because he loved her very much, even though the Lord had not let Hannah have any children.

Peninnah Upsets Hannah

⁶ Peninnah always upset Hannah and made her feel bad because the Lord had not made her able to have children. ⁷ This happened every year when their family went to the Lord’s house at Shiloh. Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would begin to cry and would not eat anything. One year when this happened, ⁸ her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you so sad? You have me. Isn’t that better than having even ten sons?”

Hannah’s Prayer

⁹ After eating and drinking, Hannah quietly got up and went to pray to the Lord.^[b] Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the door of the Lord’s Holy Building.^{[c] 10} Hannah was so sad that she cried the whole time she was praying to the Lord. ¹¹ She made a special promise to God and said, “Lord All-Powerful, you can see how sad I am. Remember me. Don’t forget me. If you will give me a son, I will give him to you. He will be yours his whole life, and as a Nazirite, he will not drink wine or strong drink,^[d] and no one will ever cut his hair.”

¹² Hannah prayed to the Lord a long time. Eli was watching her mouth while she was praying. ¹³ Hannah was praying in her heart. Her lips were moving, but since she did not say the words out loud, Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, “You have had too much to drink. It is time to put away the wine.”

¹⁵ Hannah answered, “Sir, I have not drunk any wine or beer. I am deeply troubled, and I was telling the Lord about all my problems. ¹⁶ Don’t think I am a bad woman. I have been praying so long because I have so many troubles and am very sad.”

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

¹⁸ Hannah said, “May you be happy with me.” Then she left and ate something. She was not sad anymore.

¹⁹ Early the next morning Elkanah’s family got up. They worshiped the Lord and then went back home to Ramah.

Samuel’s Birth

Elkanah had sexual relations with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered Hannah. ²⁰ By that time the following year, Hannah had become pregnant and had a son. She named him Samuel.^[e] She said, “His name is Samuel because I asked the Lord for him.”

Paul’s Authority Is From God

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News message I told you was not made up by anyone. ¹² I did not get my message from any other human. The Good News is not something I learned from other people. Jesus Christ himself gave it to me. He showed me the Good News that I should tell people.

¹³ You have heard about my past life in the Jewish religion. I persecuted the church of God very much. I tried to destroy his people. ¹⁴ I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion. I did better than most other Jews my own age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the traditions we got from our ancestors.

¹⁵ But God had special plans for me even before I was born. So he chose me through his grace. ¹⁶ It pleased him to let me see and know his Son so that I could tell the Good News about him to the non-Jewish people. I immediately prepared to do this work without asking for advice or help from anyone. ¹⁷ I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia. Later, I went back to the city of Damascus.

¹⁸ Three years later I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter.^[a] I stayed with him 15 days. ¹⁹ I met no other apostles—only James, the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ God knows there is nothing untrue in any of this. ²¹ Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.

²² No one in any of Christ’s churches in Judea had ever met me before. ²³ They had only heard this about me: “This man was persecuting us. But now he is telling people about the same faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ These believers praised God because of me.