Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁴⁶ And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷ and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.

⁴⁸ For he has looked upon the low estate of his bondmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

⁴⁹ For the Mighty One has done to me great things, and holy [is] his name;

⁵⁰ and his mercy [is] to generations and generations to them that fear him.

⁵¹ He has wrought strength with his arm; he has scattered haughty [ones] in the thought of their heart.

⁵² He has put down rulers from thrones, and exalted the lowly.

⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty.

⁵⁴ He has helped Israel his servant, in order to remember mercy,

⁵⁵ (as he spoke to our fathers,) to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

1 And there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.

² And he had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of Jehovah, were there.

⁴ And it came to pass on the day that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions;

⁵ but to Hannah he used to give a double portion, for he loved Hannah; but Jehovah had shut up her womb.

⁶ And her adversary provoked her much also, to make her fret, because Jehovah had shut up her womb.

⁷ And [as] he did so year by year, as often as she went up to the house of Jehovah, she provoked her thus; and she wept and did not eat.

⁸ And Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons?

⁹ And Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk; (now Eli the priest sat upon the seat by the door-post of the temple of Jehovah;)

¹⁰ and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Jehovah, and wept much.

¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him to Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

¹² And it came to pass as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli marked her mouth.

¹³ Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; and Eli thought she was drunken.

¹⁴ And Eli said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.

¹⁵ And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before Jehovah.

¹⁶ Take not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto.

¹⁷ And Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of him.

¹⁸ And she said, Let thy bondwoman find grace in thy sight. And the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more [as before].

9 The first therefore also indeed had ordinances of service, and the sanctuary, a worldly one.

² For a tabernacle was set up; the first, in which [were] both the candlestick and the table and the exposition of the loaves, which is called Holy;

³ but after the second veil a tabernacle which is called Holy of holies,

⁴ having a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant, covered round in every part with gold, in which [were] the golden pot that had the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tables of the covenant;

⁵ and above over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; concerning which it is not now [the time] to speak in detail.

⁶ Now these things being thus ordered, into the first tabernacle the priests enter at all times, accomplishing the services;

⁷ but into the second, the high priest only, once a year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people:

⁸ the Holy Spirit shewing this, that the way of the [holy of] holies has not yet been made manifest while as yet the first tabernacle has [its] standing;

⁹ the which [is] an image for the present time, according to which both gifts and sacrifices, unable to perfect as to conscience him that worshipped, are offered,

¹⁰ [consisting] only of meats and drinks and divers washings, ordinances of flesh, imposed until [the] time of setting things right.

¹¹ But Christ being come high priest of the good things to come, by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, (that is, not of this creation,)

¹² nor by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the [holy of] holies, having found an eternal redemption.

¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer's ashes sprinkling the defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh,

¹⁴ how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship [the] living God?