Bible Verses

1 Samuel 1-3:21

1 Samuel 1

Hannah Asks the LORD for a Child

¹Elkanah lived in Ramah, a town in the hill country of Ephraim. His great-great-grandfather was Zuph, so Elkanah was a member of the Zuph clan of the Ephraim tribe. Elkanah's father was Jeroham, his grandfather was Elihu, and his great-grandfather was Tohu. ²Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Although Peninnah had children, Hannah did not have any. ³Once a year Elkanah traveled from his hometown to Shiloh, where he worshiped the LORD All-Powerful and offered sacrifices. Eli was the LORD's priest there, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas served with him as priests. ⁴Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he gave some of the meat to Peninnah and some to each of her sons and daughters. ⁵But he gave Hannah even more, because he loved Hannah very much, even though the LORD had kept her from having children of her own. ⁶Peninnah liked to make Hannah feel miserable about not having any children, ⁷especially when the family went to the house of the LORD each year. One day, Elkanah was there offering a sacrifice, when Hannah began crying and refused to eat. ⁸So Elkanah asked, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why do you feel so bad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

⁹When the sacrifice had been offered, and they had eaten the meal, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli was sitting in his chair near the door to the place of worship. ¹⁰Hannah was brokenhearted and was crying as she prayed, ¹¹"LORD All-Powerful, I am your servant, but I am so miserable! Please let me have a son. I will give him to you for as long as he lives, and his hair will never be cut." ^12-13Hannah prayed silently to the LORD for a long time. But her lips were moving, and Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴"How long are you going to stay drunk?" he asked. "Sober up!"

^15-16"Sir, please don't think I'm no good!" Hannah answered. "I'm not drunk, and I haven't been drinking. But I do feel miserable and terribly upset. I've been praying all this time, telling the LORD about my problems."

¹⁷Eli replied, "You may go home now and stop worrying. I'm sure the God of Israel will answer your prayer."

¹⁸"Sir, thank you for being so kind to me," Hannah said. Then she left, and after eating something, she felt much better.

Samuel Is Born

¹⁹Elkanah and his family got up early the next morning and worshiped the LORD. Then they went back home to Ramah. Later the LORD blessed Elkanah and Hannah ²⁰with a son. She named him Samuel because she had asked the LORD for him.

Hannah Gives Samuel to the LORD

²¹The next time Elkanah and his family went to offer their yearly sacrifice, he took along a gift that he had promised to give to the LORD. ²²But Hannah stayed home, because she had told Elkanah, "Samuel and I won't go until he's old enough for me to stop nursing him. Then I'll give him to the LORD, and he can stay there at Shiloh for the rest of his life."

²³"You know what's best," Elkanah said. "Stay here until it's time to stop nursing him. I'm sure the LORD will help you do what you have promised." Hannah did not go to Shiloh until she stopped nursing Samuel. ^24-25When it was the time of year to go to Shiloh again, Hannah and Elkanah ^[i] took Samuel to the LORD's house. They brought along a three-year-old bull, ^[j] a twenty-pound sack of flour, and a clay jar full of wine. Hannah and Elkanah offered the bull as a sacrifice, then brought the little boy to Eli. ²⁶"Sir," Hannah said, "a few years ago I stood here beside you and asked the LORD ²⁷to give me a child. Here he is! The LORD gave me just what I asked for. ²⁸Now I am giving him to the LORD, and he will be the LORD's servant for as long as he lives."

Elkanah worshiped the LORD there at Shiloh, and

1 Samuel 2

Hannah Prays

¹Hannah prayed:

You make me strong

and happy, LORD.

You rescued me.

Now I can be glad

and laugh at my enemies.

²No other god is like you. We're safer with you

than on a high mountain. ³I can tell those proud people,

"Stop your boasting!

Nothing is hidden from the LORD,

and he judges what we do."

⁴Our LORD, you break

the bows of warriors,

but you give strength

to everyone who stumbles.

⁵People who once

had plenty to eat

must now hire themselves out

for only a piece of bread.

But you give the hungry more

than enough to eat.

A woman did not have a child,

and you gave her seven,

but a woman who had many

was left with none.

⁶You take away life,

and you give life.

You send people down

to the world of the dead

and bring them back again.

⁷Our LORD, you are the one

who makes us rich or poor.

You put some in high positions

and bring disgrace on others.

⁸You lift the poor and homeless

out of the garbage dump

and give them places of honor

in royal palaces.

You set the world on foundations,

and they belong to you.

⁹You protect your loyal people,

but everyone who is evil

will die in darkness.

We cannot win a victory

by our own strength.

¹⁰Our LORD, those who attack you

will be broken in pieces

when you fight back

with thunder from heaven.

You will judge the whole earth

and give power and strength

to your chosen king.

Samuel Stays with Eli

¹¹Elkanah and Hannah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed to help Eli serve the LORD.

Eli's Sons

^12-13Eli's sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the LORD. So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork. ¹⁴The servant would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out on the fork was taken back to the priests. That is how these two priests treated every Israelite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh. ¹⁵Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to the LORD. Then the servant would tell them, "The priest doesn't want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!"

¹⁶Usually the people answered, "Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the LORD."

"No," the servant would reply. "If you don't give it to me now, I'll take it by force."

¹⁷Eli's sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the LORD very angry.

Hannah Visits Samuel

¹⁸The boy Samuel served the LORD and wore a special linen garment ¹⁹and the clothes his mother made for him. She would bring new clothes every year, when she and her husband came to offer sacrifices at Shiloh. ²⁰Eli would always bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "Samuel was born in answer to your prayers. Now you have given him to the LORD. I pray that the LORD will bless you with more children to take his place." After Eli had blessed them, Elkanah and Hannah would return home.

²¹The LORD was kind to Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel grew up at the LORD's house in Shiloh.

Eli Warns His Sons

²²Eli was now very old, and he heard what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. ^23-24"Why are you doing these awful things?" he asked them. "I've been hearing nothing but complaints about you from all of the LORD's people. ²⁵If you harm another person, God can help make things right between the two of you. But if you commit a crime against the LORD, no one can help you!" But the LORD had already decided to kill them. So he kept them from listening to their father.

A Prophet Speaks to Eli

²⁶Each day the LORD and his people liked Samuel more and more.

²⁷One day a prophet came to Eli and gave him this message from the LORD:

When your ancestors were slaves of the king of Egypt, I came and showed them who I am. ^28-29Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your family to be my priests. I wanted them to offer sacrifices and burn incense to me and to find out from me what I want my people to do. I commanded everyone to bring their sacrifices here where I live, and I allowed you and your family to keep those that were not offered to me on the altar.

But you honor your sons instead of me! You don't respect the sacrifices and offerings that are brought to me, and you've all gotten fat from eating the best parts. ³⁰I am the LORD, the God of Israel. I promised to always let your family serve me as priests, but now I tell you that I cannot do this any longer! I honor anyone who honors me, but I put a curse on anyone who hates me. ³¹The time will come when I will kill you and everyone else in your family. Not one of you will live to an old age.

³²Your family will have a lot of trouble. I will be kind to Israel, but everyone in your family will die young. ³³If I let anyone from your family be a priest, his life will be full of sadness and sorrow. But most of the men in your family will die a violent death! ³⁴To prove to you that I will do these things, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day. ³⁵I have chosen someone else to be my priest, someone who will be faithful and obey me. I will always let his family serve as priests and help my chosen king. ³⁶But if anyone is left from your family, he will come to my priest and beg for money or a little bread. He may even say to my priest, "Please let me be a priest, so I will at least have something to eat."

1 Samuel 3

The LORD Speaks to Samuel

^1-2Samuel served the LORD by helping Eli the priest, who was by that time almost blind. In those days, the LORD hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. But one night, Eli was asleep in his room, ³and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the LORD's house. They had not been asleep very long ⁴when the LORD called out Samuel's name. "Here I am!" Samuel answered. ⁵Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. What do you want?"

"I didn't call you," Eli answered. "Go back to bed."

Samuel went back.

⁶Again the LORD called out Samuel's name. Samuel got up and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "What do you want?"

Eli told him, "Son, I didn't call you. Go back to sleep."

⁷The LORD had not spoken to Samuel before, and Samuel did not recognize the voice. ⁸When the LORD called out his name for the third time, Samuel went to Eli again and said, "Here I am. What do you want?"

Eli finally realized that it was the LORD who was speaking to Samuel. ⁹So he said, "Go back and lie down! If someone speaks to you again, answer, `I'm listening, LORD. What do you want me to do?' "

Once again Samuel went back and lay down.

¹⁰The LORD then stood beside Samuel and called out as he had done before, "Samuel! Samuel!"

"I'm listening," Samuel answered. "What do you want me to do?"

¹¹The LORD said:

Samuel, I am going to do something in Israel that will shock everyone who hears about it! ¹²I will punish Eli and his family, just as I promised. ¹³He knew that his sons refused to respect me, and he let them get away with it, even though I said I would punish his family forever. ¹⁴I warned Eli that sacrifices or offerings could never make things right! His family has done too many disgusting things. ¹⁵The next morning, Samuel got up and opened the doors to the LORD's house. He was afraid to tell Eli what the LORD had said. ¹⁶But Eli told him, "Samuel, my boy, come here!"

"Here I am," Samuel answered.

¹⁷Eli said, "What did God say to you? Tell me everything. I pray that God will punish you terribly if you don't tell me every word he said!"

¹⁸Samuel told Eli everything. Then Eli said, "He is the LORD, and he will do what's right."

The LORD Helps Samuel

¹⁹As Samuel grew up, the LORD helped him and made everything Samuel said come true. ²⁰From the town of Dan in the north to the town of Beersheba in the south, everyone in the country knew that Samuel was truly the LORD's prophet. ²¹The LORD often appeared to Samuel at Shiloh and told him what to say.