Study Desk

And so he used to do year after year; whenever she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her so that she would weep and would not eat.

So Elkanah her husband would say to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And why are you heartsick? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

She was deeply troubled, so she prayed to Yahweh and wept bitterly.

Now Hannah had been speaking in her heart; her lips were moving, but her voice could not be heard, so Eli considered her to be drunk.

So the man Elkanah went up with all his household to make the annual sacrifice to Yahweh and to pay his vow.

But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear before Yahweh; and he will remain there forever."

So her husband Elkanah said to her, "Do what seems right to you; stay until you wean him. Only may Yahweh fulfill his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

So the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of Yahweh, because the men treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt.

Look, days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of the house of your ancestor so that no one in your house will live to old age.

All the remainder of your household will come to bow down before him for a bit of silver or a loaf of bread and will say, "Please assign me to one of the priestly offices so that I can eat a morsel of bread."'"

And then one day when Eli was lying in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak so that he was not able to see)

And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." But he said, "I did not call you. Go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

And Yahweh called Samuel again, so Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." And he said, "I did not call you, my son. Go back and lie down."

Again Yahweh called Samuel a third time, so he got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." Then Eli realized that Yahweh was calling the boy.

So Eli said to Samuel "Go lie down. If he calls to you, then you must say, ‘Speak Yahweh, because your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

So Yahweh said to Samuel, "Look, I am doing something in Israel which will cause the two ears of everyone who hears it to tingle.

So Samuel lay down until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, but Samuel was afraid of telling the vision to Eli.

So Samuel told him all the words and did not conceal anything from him. And he said, "He is Yahweh, he will do what is good in his sight."

When the army came back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to us from Shiloh so that it may come into our midst and deliver us from the hand of our enemies."

So the army sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.