Shiloh at dusk from a terraced hillside: the white linen court of the tabernacle on its rise with stone rooms beside it, pilgrims’ tents along the slope, and a young woman in a deep-blue head covering sitting alone on a wall, looking across.

The Book of

1 Samuel 1

A woman with no child, a rival who taunts her every year, and a prayer whispered at Shiloh.

28 verses≈ 6 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listenedChapter 1
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

Elkanah and His Wives

Family line

From Zuph to Elkanah

Ramathaim-zophim
an Ephraimite
Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
Married Hannah and Peninnah
Hannah had none
He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

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Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD.

“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

Reflect

Year after year

Hannah’s sorrow met her again every time she went up to worship. It “went on year after year,” until she wept and would not eat. What grief keeps coming back to you? Write it down, and write whether you have brought it to the LORD or only carried it.

Hannah Prays for a Son

So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

Dusk at Shiloh: Hannah stands alone outside the white linen wall of the tabernacle court, head bowed in her deep-blue covering, hands open low before her, weeping; a stone room and its doorpost far to one side.

In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

As Hannah kept on praying before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk

Eli

and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!”

Hannah

“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman, for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.”

Eli

“Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.”

Hannah

“May your maidservant find favor with you,” said Hannah.

Then she went on her way, and she began to eat, and her face was no longer downcast.

I have poured out my soul before the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:15

Pray

Poured out before Him

Hannah prayed in her heart, and no one but the LORD could hear her. Pour out your soul to Him as she did, honestly and in private, the grief and the longing both. Thank Him that He hears the prayer no one else can hear. Lord, You see the affliction of Your servants. I bring You what I cannot carry. Remember me. Amen.

The Birth of Samuel

The next morning they got up early to bow in worship before the LORD, and then they returned home to Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”

Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, but Hannah did not go.

Hannah

“After the boy is weaned,” she said to her husband, “I will take him to appear before the LORD and to stay there permanently.”

Elkanah

“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah replied, “and stay here until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD confirm His word.”

So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

Hannah

Hannah

And when they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli.

“Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:27–28

So they worshiped the LORD there.

Question

Quick question

Hannah gave her son a name that remembered her prayer.

Why did Hannah give her son the name Samuel?

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 1

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A verse to carry with you

I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:27–28

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