The First Book of Samuel, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill
country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the
son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite: {1:2}
and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of
other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
{1:3} This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship
and to sacrifice to Yahweh of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli,
Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. {1:4} When the day
came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all
her sons and her daughters, portions: {1:5} but to Hannah he gave a
double portion; for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb.
{1:6} Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh
had shut up her womb. {1:7} [as] he did so year by year, when she went
up to the house of Yahweh, so she provoked her; therefore she wept,
and did not eat. {1:8} Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why
do you weep? Why don't you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not
better to you than ten sons?"
{1:9} So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after
they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the
doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. {1:10} She was in bitterness of
soul, and prayed to Yahweh, and wept sore. {1:11} She vowed a vow, and
said, "Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of
your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will
give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the
days of his life, and there shall no razor come on his head."
{1:12} It happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli
saw her mouth. {1:13} Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips
moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been
drunken. {1:14} Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunken? Put
away your wine from you."
{1:15} Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful
spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out
my soul before Yahweh. {1:16} Don't count your handmaid for a wicked
woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint
and my provocation."
{1:17} Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel
grant your petition that you have asked of him."
{1:18} She said, "Let your handmaid find favor in your sight." So
the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad
any more. {1:19} They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped
before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and
Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.
{1:20} It happened, when the time had come, that Hannah conceived,
and bore a son; and she named him [1>]Samuel,[<1] [saying], "Because I
have asked him of Yahweh."
{1:21} The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to
Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. {1:22} But Hannah didn't go
up; for she said to her husband, "Not until the child is weaned; then
I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there
forever."
{1:23} Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems good to you.
Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word."
So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him. {1:24}
When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls,
and one [2>]ephah[<2] of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him
to Yahweh's house in Shiloh. The child was young. {1:25} They killed
the bull, and brought the child to Eli. {1:26} She said, "Oh, my lord,
as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here,
praying to Yahweh. {1:27} For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has
given me my petition which I asked of him. {1:28} Therefore also I
have granted him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is granted to
Yahweh." He worshiped Yahweh there.
{2:1} Hannah prayed, and said:
"My heart exults in Yahweh!
My horn is exalted in Yahweh.
My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
{2:2} There is no one as holy as Yahweh,
For there is no one besides you,
nor is there any rock like our God.
{2:3} "Talk no more so exceeding proudly.
Don't let arrogance come out of your mouth,
For Yahweh is a God of knowledge.
By him actions are weighed.
{2:4} "The bows of the mighty men are broken.
Those who stumbled are girded with strength.
{2:5} Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
Those who were hungry have ceased [to hunger].
Yes, the barren has borne seven.
She who has many children languishes.
{2:6} "Yahweh kills, and makes alive.
He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.
{2:7} Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich.
He brings low, he also lifts up.
{2:8} He raises up the poor out of the dust.
He lifts up the needy from the dunghill,
To make them sit with princes,
and inherit the throne of glory.
For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's.
He has set the world on them.
{2:9} He will keep the feet of his holy ones,
but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;
for no man shall prevail by strength.
{2:10} Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces.
He will thunder against them in the sky.
"Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed."
{2:11} Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to
Yahweh before Eli the priest. {2:12} Now the sons of Eli were base
men; they didn't know Yahweh. {2:13} The custom of the priests with
the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's
servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth
in his hand; {2:14} and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or
caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took
therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
{2:15} Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and
said to the man who sacrificed, "Give meat to roast for the priest;
for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw."
{2:16} If the man said to him, "Let the fat be burned first, and
then take as much as your soul desires;" then he would say, "No, but
you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force."
{2:17} The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the
men despised the offering of Yahweh. {2:18} But Samuel ministered
before Yahweh, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. {2:19}
Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from
year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly
sacrifice. {2:20} Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, "Yahweh
give you seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of
Yahweh." They went to their own home. {2:21} Yahweh visited Hannah,
and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child
Samuel grew before Yahweh. {2:22} Now Eli was very old; and he heard
all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the
women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. {2:23} He said to
them, "Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings
from all this people. {2:24} No, my sons; for it is no good report
that I hear: you make Yahweh's people disobey. {2:25} If one man sin
against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Yahweh,
who shall entreat for him?" Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the
voice of their father, because Yahweh was minded to kill them. {2:26}
The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and
also with men. {2:27} A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, "Thus
says Yahweh, 'Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when
they were in Egypt [in bondage] to Pharaoh's house? {2:28} Did I
choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up
to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Did I give
to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of
Israel made by fire? {2:29} Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my
offering, which I have commanded in [my] habitation, and honor your
sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the
offerings of Israel my people?'
{2:30} "Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, 'I said indeed
that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me
forever.' But now Yahweh says, 'Be it far from me; for those who honor
me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
{2:31} Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the
arm of your father's house, that there shall not be an old man in your
house. {2:32} You shall see the affliction of [my] habitation, in all
the wealth which [God] shall give Israel; and there shall not be an
old man in your house forever. {2:33} The man of yours, [whom] I shall
not cut off from my altar, [shall be] to consume your eyes, and to
grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the
flower of their age.
{2:34} "'This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two
sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall both die. {2:35} I
will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that
which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house;
and he shall walk before my anointed forever. {2:36} It shall happen,
that everyone who is left in your house shall come and bow down to him
for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, "Please put
me into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of
bread."'"
{3:1} The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. The word of
Yahweh was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision. {3:2}
It happened at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his
eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), {3:3} and the
lamp of God hadn't yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down [to sleep],
in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark of God was; {3:4} that Yahweh
called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am." {3:5} He ran to Eli, and
said, "Here I am; for you called me."
He said, "I didn't call; lie down again."
He went and lay down. {3:6} Yahweh called yet again, "Samuel!"
Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for you called
me."
He answered, "I didn't call, my son; lie down again." {3:7} Now
Samuel didn't yet know Yahweh, neither was the word of Yahweh yet
revealed to him. {3:8} Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. He
arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for you called me."
Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child. {3:9} Therefore Eli
said to Samuel, "Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he calls you, that
you shall say, 'Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.'" So Samuel
went and lay down in his place. {3:10} Yahweh came, and stood, and
called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Then Samuel said, "Speak; for your servant hears."
{3:11} Yahweh said to Samuel, "Behold, I will do a thing in Israel,
at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. {3:12}
In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken
concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. {3:13} For I
have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity
which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he
didn't restrain them. {3:14} Therefore I have sworn to the house of
Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be removed with
sacrifice nor offering forever."
{3:15} Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the
house of Yahweh. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. {3:16} Then Eli
called Samuel, and said, "Samuel, my son!"
He said, "Here I am."
{3:17} He said, "What is the thing that [Yahweh] has spoken to you?
Please don't hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you
hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you."
{3:18} Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him.
He said, "It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him."
{3:19} Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his
words fall to the ground. {3:20} All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba
knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh. {3:21}
Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel
in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.
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Footnotes:
[1] {1:20} Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for "heard by God."
[2] {1:24} 1 ephah is about 22 litres or about 2/3 of a bushel
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