1:1There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: and he had two wives, the name to one was Hannah, and the name to the second Peninnah. 1:2And Peninnah had sons: but Hannah had no children. 1:3And that man used to go up from his city on the appointed days, to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. 1:3And there were there two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord. 1:4So the day came, and Elkanah sacrificed, and gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and daughters, portions: but to Hannah he gave one portion, sad, because he loved Hannah.
1:5But the Lord had shut up her womb. 1:6Her rival also used to afflict her, and vexed her vehemently, so much that she reproached her that the Lord had shut up her womb: and thus she did each year: when, as the time came round, they went up to the temple of the Lord, so she would provoke her: and she would weep, and would not take food. 1:8So Elkanah her husband said to her: "Hannah, why do you weep? 1:8And why do you not eat? 1:8And for what reason is your heart afflicted? 1:8Am I not better to you than ten sons?" 1:9But Hannah rose up after she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh.
1:9And with Eli the priest sitting upon a seat before the posts of the temple of the Lord, since Hannah was bitter in spirit, she prayed to the Lord, weeping abundantly, and vowed a vow, saying: "Lord of hosts, if, looking down, you will see the affliction of your handmaid, and will have remembered me, and not forgotten your maidservant, and will give to your servant a male child: I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall not go up upon his head." 1:12And it came about, when she was multiplying her prayers before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth.
1:13Now Hannah was speaking in her heart, and only her lips were moving, and her voice was not heard at all. 1:13So Eli reckoned her drunk, and said to her: "How long will you be drunk? 1:14Digest for a little while the wine with which you are soaked." 1:15Hannah, answering: "By no means," she says, "my lord: for I am a woman unhappy beyond measure: and wine, and everything which can make drunk, I have not drunk, but I have poured out my soul in the sight of the Lord. 1:16Do not reckon your handmaid as one of the daughters of Belial: because out of the abundance of my grief and sorrow I have spoken until the present."
1:17Then Eli says to her: "Go in peace: and may the God of Israel grant you your petition which you have asked of him." 1:18And she said: "Would that your handmaid may find favour in your eyes." 1:18And the woman went off on her way, and ate, and her looks were no longer changed into different ones. 1:19And they rose in the morning, and worshipped before the Lord: and they returned, and came into their house at Ramah. 1:19And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife: and the Lord remembered her. 1:20And it came about after the circle of days, Hannah conceived, and bore a son: and she called his name Samuel, because she had asked for him from the Lord.
1:21And her husband Elkanah went up, and all his house, to sacrifice to the Lord the solemn victim, and his vow. 1:22And Hannah did not go up: for she said to her husband: "I will not go until the infant is weaned, and I will bring him, so that he may appear before the sight of the Lord, and may stay there continually." 1:23And Elkanah her husband said to her: "Do what seems good to you, and stay until you wean him: and I pray that the Lord may fulfil his word." 1:23So the woman stayed, and suckled her son, until she removed him from the milk. 1:24And she brought him with her, after she had weaned him, with three calves, and three measures of flour, and a jar of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh.
1:24Now the boy was still a little child: and they sacrificed a calf, and offered the boy to Eli. 1:26And Hannah said: "I beg you, my lord, as your soul lives, lord: I am that woman who stood before you here praying to the Lord. 1:27For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of him. 1:28Therefore I too have lent him to the Lord for all the days in which he shall be lent to the Lord." 1:28And they worshipped the Lord there. 1:28And Hannah prayed, and said: