1 Samuel 2:1-21 ▼

1 Then Hannah prayed and said, “My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

2 “There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

3 “Do not go on boasting so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the LORD is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed.

4 “The bows of the mighty are broken to pieces, But those who have stumbled strap on strength.

5 “Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to be hungry. Even the infertile woman gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes.

6 “The LORD puts to death and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and brings up.

7 “The LORD makes poor and rich; He humbles, He also exalts.

8 “He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the garbage heap To seat them with nobles, And He gives them a seat of honor as an inheritance; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He set the world on them.

9 “He watches over the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a person prevail.

10 “Those who contend with the LORD will be terrified; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

11 Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the boy continued to attend to the service of the LORD before Eli the priest.

12 Now the sons of Eli were useless men; they did not know the LORD.

13 And this was the custom of the priests with the people: when anyone was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was cooking, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.

14 And he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; everything that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. They did so in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take cooked meat from you, only raw.”

16 And if the man said to him, “They must burn the fat first, then take as much as you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you must give it to me now; and if not, I am taking it by force!”

17 And so the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD disrespectfully.

18 Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.

19 And his mother would make for him a little robe and bring it up to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the LORD give you children from this woman in place of the one she requested of the LORD.” And they went to their own home.

21 The LORD indeed visited Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up before the LORD.