Study Desk

Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you cry and why do you not eat? Why are you so sad and discontent? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

So Hannah got up after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat beside the doorpost of the temple (tabernacle) of the LORD.

Hannah was speaking in her heart (mind); only her lips were moving, and her voice was not heard, so Eli thought she was drunk.

Hannah said, "Let your maidservant find grace and favor in your sight." So the woman went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; and then I will bring him, so that he may appear before the LORD and remain there as long as he lives."

Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish and confirm His word." So the woman remained [behind] and nursed her son until she weaned him.

"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 by Him actions are weighed (examined).

So the sin of the [two] young men [Hophni and Phinehas] was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD disrespectfully.

And [the time came when] the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.

'Behold, the time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

'And it will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and say, "Please assign me to one of the priest's offices so I may eat a piece of bread."'"

He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call you; lie down again." So he went and lay down.

Then the LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But Eli answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."

So the LORD called Samuel a third time. And he stood and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." Then Eli understood that it was the LORD [who was] calling the boy.

So Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and it shall be that if He calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the LORD'S house. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. And Eli said, "It is the LORD; may He do what seems good to Him."

When the people (soldiers) came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of the covenant of God.

So it happened that as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all [the people of] Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth resounded.