1 Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in the LORD; my •horn is lifted up by the LORD. My mouth boasts over my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 There is no one holy like the LORD. There is no one besides You! And there is no rock like our God.
3 Do not boast so proudly , or let arrogant words come out of your mouth, for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by Him.
4 The bows of the warriors are broken, but the feeble are clothed with strength.
5 Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are starving hunger no more. The woman who is childless gives birth to seven, but the woman with many sons pines away.
6 The LORD brings death and gives life; He sends some to •Sheol, and He raises others up.
7 The LORD brings poverty and gives wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage pile. He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s ; He has set the world on them.
9 He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness, for a man does not prevail by his own strength.
10 Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered; He will thunder in the heavens against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give power to His king; He will lift up the horn of His anointed.
11 Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.
12 Eli’s sons were •wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
13 or for the priests’ share of the sacrifices from the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling
14 and plunge it into the container or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
15 Even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he won’t accept boiled meat from you — only raw.”
16 If that man said to him, “The fat must be burned first ; then you can take whatever you want for yourself,” the servant would reply, “No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force! ”
17 So the servants’ sin was very severe in the presence of the LORD , because they treated the LORD’s offering with contempt.
18 The boy Samuel served in the LORD’s presence and wore a linen ephod.
19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she has given to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
21 The LORD paid attention to Hannah’s need, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
