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1 Samuel 1

KJV · Chapter 1/31

1Now 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:

2And 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.

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

4And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

5But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.

6And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.

7And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

8Then said Elkanah her husband 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?

9So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.

10And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.

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

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

13Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.

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

15And 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 the Lord.

16Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.

17Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.

18And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

19And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.

20Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.

21And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.

22But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever.

23And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

24And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young.

25And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli.

26And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.

27For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

28Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah, prays in anguish for a son and vows to dedicate him to the Lord. God answers her prayer, and she gives birth to Samuel, who after being weaned is brought to the temple to serve.

Explanation

Hannah faces a double sorrow: barrenness in a culture that deeply valued having children, and the constant taunting of Peninnah, Elkanah's other wife, who had children and provoked her. Her silent prayer, so intense that the priest Eli mistakes her for being drunk, reveals a kind of faith that does not depend on public display to be genuine. Hannah's vow to give her son back to the Lord's service, fulfilled literally when she brings young Samuel, still a child, to live at the temple, illustrates a central principle of faith: recognizing that the gifts we receive from God ultimately belong to Him.

Fun facts

  • The name Samuel is explained in the text itself as meaning 'asked of the Lord,' though phonetically it is closer to 'heard by God' (Shama-El) in Hebrew.
  • Shiloh, where Hannah prayed and where Samuel served, was the site of the tabernacle before the temple was built in Jerusalem, functioning as Israel's central religious hub throughout the period of the judges.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Samuel 1:1Elkanah is called an Ephrathite here, a resident of the hill country of Ephraim — but the full genealogy in 1 Chronicles 6 shows he was actually a Levite. Levites had no territory of their own and lived scattered among the other tribes.
  2. 1 Samuel 1:2Having two wives was common in that era, but the text already hands us the story’s conflict: Hannah had no children, which in that culture carried the weight of public shame and uncertainty about the family’s future.
  3. 1 Samuel 1:3Hophni and Phinehas, mentioned here in passing as priests at Shiloh, will later be at the center of the corruption scandal that brings down the house of Eli — the text plants their names before telling their story.
  4. 1 Samuel 1:4Handing out portions of the sacrificed meat to the family was a normal part of the feast at Shiloh: the sacred meal was shared among everyone present after the offering to God.
  5. 1 Samuel 1:5Elkanah gave Hannah a special portion — a sign of his affection for her even without children — but that did not ease the pain of being barren in a culture where bearing children defined a woman’s social worth.
  6. 1 Samuel 1:6Her “adversary” is Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife: she provoked Hannah on purpose, year after year, precisely because of her barrenness.
  7. 1 Samuel 1:7Peninnah’s taunting repeated every time the family went up to Shiloh — turning the annual pilgrimage, which should have been joyful, into a recurring ordeal for Hannah.
  8. 1 Samuel 1:8Elkanah’s question tries to comfort Hannah, but it shows he does not grasp the depth of her pain: in a culture where bearing children (especially sons) defined a woman, his love could not fill that social void.
  9. 1 Samuel 1:9The “temple of the Lord” at Shiloh was not yet the stone temple Solomon would later build — it was a sanctuary with a fixed structure and doors (see 3:15), built around the tent that housed the ark.
  10. 1 Samuel 1:10Hannah’s silent, prolonged weeping here sets up the next scene: praying without making a sound, she will be mistaken by Eli for a drunken woman.
  11. 1 Samuel 1:11Hannah vows that if she has a son, he will be a Nazirite — the vow “there shall no razor come upon his head” meant he would never cut his hair, never drink wine, and never touch a corpse, a sign of total consecration to God. Samson, and later John the Baptist, followed similar vows. Hannah is offering her son before he is even born.
  12. 1 Samuel 1:12Hannah prays for so long that she catches Eli’s attention — personal, silent prayers like this were not the norm for public worship at Shiloh, which was built on sacrifices and rituals spoken aloud.
  13. 1 Samuel 1:13Moving her lips without making a sound was strange enough for Eli to wrongly conclude that Hannah was drunk — praying silently inside the sanctuary was not the norm in that era.
  14. 1 Samuel 1:14Eli rebukes Hannah, thinking she is drunk, telling her to “put away” her wine — a misunderstanding that is only cleared up after she explains herself.
  15. 1 Samuel 1:15Hannah explains that she has drunk nothing; to have “poured out my soul before the Lord” was a way of saying she was telling God, with no filter, all the anguish she felt.
  16. 1 Samuel 1:16“A daughter of Belial” was a way of saying a worthless or contemptible woman — the same term (“sons of Belial”) returns in the next chapter to describe Eli’s own corrupt sons.
  17. 1 Samuel 1:17Convinced by Hannah’s explanation, Eli shifts from rebuke to blessing, asking that God grant her petition — without yet knowing what that petition was.
  18. 1 Samuel 1:18Hannah’s countenance changes even before she knows whether she will have a son — she eats and moves on in peace simply for having prayed, a sign that she already trusted God had heard her, whatever the answer.
  19. 1 Samuel 1:19“Elkanah knew Hannah his wife” is the polite Hebrew way of speaking of the marital relationship — the text links that very night directly to Samuel’s conception, the answer to the prayer made at Shiloh.
  20. 1 Samuel 1:20The name Samuel sounds in Hebrew like asked of God or heard by God — a wordplay with the phrase Hannah repeats, saying she asked this son of the Lord. Giving names that told the story of a birth was common at the time.
  21. 1 Samuel 1:21Elkanah goes up to Shiloh for the yearly sacrifice and also to fulfill “his vow” — suggesting he himself had made a commitment to God alongside Hannah, even though the original vow had been hers.
  22. 1 Samuel 1:22Hannah stays home instead of going up with the family: she will only bring the boy to Shiloh once he is weaned, to fulfill her vow to give him there “for ever.”
  23. 1 Samuel 1:23Elkanah agrees to Hannah’s plan, asking only that “the Lord establish his word” — a hope that the vow would be fulfilled and everything would go well with the child.
  24. 1 Samuel 1:24Three bulls, a measure of flour, and a skin of wine make up a complete offering: meat for the sacrifice, grain for the meal offering, and wine for the drink offering. Bringing all this when the child was weaned (around age two or three, later than today) shows Hannah kept her vow as soon as the boy no longer depended on her to survive.
  25. 1 Samuel 1:25Slaughtering the bull was the first step of the thanksgiving sacrifice the family offered as they brought Samuel to Eli, fulfilling what Hannah had promised.
  26. 1 Samuel 1:26Hannah reminds Eli who she is: the same woman he saw praying there years before, whom he mistook for a drunk — now she returns to show the result of that prayer.
  27. 1 Samuel 1:27Hannah repeats, almost word for word, the request she made in the previous chapter — making it clear that Samuel is exactly the answer to that specific prayer.
  28. 1 Samuel 1:28“I have lent him to the Lord... as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord” is a wordplay on the name Samuel: the son asked of God is now given back to God, fulfilling the vow completely.

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