1 There was a man of Ramathaim in Zophim, of the hill of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihi, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim.

2 And Elkanah had two wives; the name to the one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah; and sons were to Peninnah; but Hannah had none free children.

3 And that man went up from his city in the days that were ordained, to worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And [the] two sons of Eli were there, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord.

4 Then the day came, and Elkanah offered, and he gave parts to Peninnah, his wife, and to all his sons and daughters;

5 forsooth he gave sorrowfully one part, either double, to Hannah, for he loved Hannah; forsooth the Lord had closed her womb.

6 And her enemy Peninnah tormented her, and anguished her greatly, in so much that she upbraided her, that the Lord had closed her womb.

7 And so Peninnah did each year, when the time came that they went up into the house of the Lord; and so she stirred Hannah. And then she wept, and took no meat.

8 Therefore Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not, and why is thine heart tormented? Whether I am not better to thee than be ten sons?

9 Soothly Hannah rose, after that she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And the while Eli [the priest] was on his great seat before the doorposts of the house of the Lord,

10 and when she was in bitter sorrow of soul, she prayed the Lord, and wept largely;

11 and she made a vow to the Lord, and said, Lord God of hosts, if thou beholdest, and seest the torment of thy servantess, and if thou hast mind of me, and forgettest not thine handmaid, and givest a son to thy servantess, I shall give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come upon his head.

12 And it was done, when she multiplied her prayers before the Lord, that Eli espied her mouth.

13 Forsooth Hannah spake in her heart, and only her lips were moved, and utterly her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli guessed her drunken,

14 and he said to her, How long shalt thou be drunken? Avoid thou a little the wine, by which thou art moist.

15 Hannah answered, and said, Nay, my lord, for I am an unhappy woman; I have not drunk wine, neither any-thing that may make drunken, but I have poured out my soul in the Lord’s sight;

16 guess thou not thine handmaid as one of the daughters of Belial, for of the multitude of my sorrow and of my mourning I have spoken unto this present time.

17 Then Eli said to her, Go thou in peace, and God of Israel give to thee the asking that thou hast prayed him.

18 And she said, I would that thine handmaid find grace in thine eyes. And the woman went into her way, and ate, and her cheers were no more changed diversely.

19 And they rised early, and worship-ped before the Lord; and they turned again, and came into their house in Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife; and the Lord thought on her.

20 And it was done after the compass of days, Hannah conceived, and childed a son, and called his name Samuel; for she had asked him of the Lord.

21 And her husband Elkanah went up, and all his house, to offer a solemn sacrifice, and his avow [or vow] to the Lord.

22 And Hannah went not up to that solemnity or feast, for she had said to her husband, I shall not go, till the young child be weaned, and till I lead him thither, and he appear before the sight of the Lord, and dwell there continually.

23 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Do thou that that seemeth good to thee, and dwell thou still till thou have weaned him; and I beseech, that the Lord [ful] fill his word. There-fore the woman abode, and gave milk to her son, till the time she removed him from the milk.

24 And she brought him with her, after that she had weaned him, with three calves, and three bushels of meal, and an amphora, either a pot, of wine; and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was yet full young.

25 And they sacrificed a calf, and they offered the child to Eli.

26 And Hannah said, My lord, I beseech thee, thy soul liveth; I am the woman, that stood before thee here, and prayed the Lord;

27 for this child I prayed, and the Lord gave to me mine asking which I asked of him;

28 therefore and I have given him to the Lord in all [the] days, in which he is given to the Lord. And they worshipped there the Lord.