1 Samuel 1:1

Hannah Gives Birth to Samuel

1:1 There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, ¹  from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

1 Samuel 1:4

1:4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he used to give meat portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

1 Samuel 1:8

1:8 Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? ²  Am I not better to you than ten ³  sons?”

1 Samuel 1:19

1:19 They got up early the next morning and after worshiping the Lord, they returned to their home at Ramah. Elkanah had marital relations with ⁴  his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered ⁵  her.

1 Samuel 1:21

Hannah Dedicates Samuel to the Lord

1:21 This man Elkanah went up with all his family to make the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow,

1 Samuel 1:23

1:23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best. ⁶  Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise.” ⁷ 

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

1 Samuel 2:11

2:11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of ⁸  Eli the priest.

1 Samuel 2:20

2:20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord raise up for you descendants ⁹  from this woman to replace the one that she ¹⁰  dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their ¹¹  home.

[1:1]  ¹ tc The translation follows the MT. The LXX reads “a man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite”; this is followed by a number of recent English translations. It is possible the MT reading צוֹפִים (tsofim) arose from dittography of the mem (מ) at the beginning of the following word.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “why is your heart displeased?”

[1:8]  ³ sn Like the number seven, the number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number (see, for example, Dan 1:20, Zech 8:23).

[1:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “Elkanah knew his wife.” The Hebrew expression is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[1:19]  ⁵ sn The Lord “remembered” her in the sense of granting her earlier request for a child. The Hebrew verb is often used in the OT for considering the needs or desires of people with favor and kindness.

[1:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

[1:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “establish his word.” This apparently refers to the promise inherent in Eli’s priestly blessing (see v. 17).

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “with [or “before”] the face of.”

[2:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “seed.”

[2:20]  ¹⁰ tn The MT has a masculine verb here, but in light of the context the reference must be to Hannah. It is possible that the text of the MT is incorrect here (cf. the ancient versions), in which case the text should be changed to read either a passive participle or better, the third feminine singular of the verb. If the MT is correct here, perhaps the masculine is to be understood in a nonspecific and impersonal way, allowing for a feminine antecedent. In any case, the syntax of the MT is unusual here.

[2:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his.”