1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children; Hannah had none.
3 Year after year this man would go up from his town to bow down and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as priests to the LORD.
4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he gave shares to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters,
5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, for it was Hannah he loved, though the LORD had shut her womb.
6 Her rival would taunt her sorely to stir her up, because the LORD had shut her womb.
7 This happened year after year: whenever she went up to the LORD's house, the other woman taunted her, and she would weep and not eat.
8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why will you not eat? Why is your heart so low? Am I not worth more to you than ten sons?"
9 Once, after they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah got up. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair beside the doorpost of the LORD's temple.
10 In bitterness of soul she prayed to the LORD, weeping and weeping.
11 She made a vow: "LORD of hosts, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give your servant a male child, I will give him to the LORD for his whole life, and no razor shall touch his head."
12 As she went on praying at length before the LORD, Eli was watching her mouth.
13 Hannah was speaking within her heart; her lips were moving, but her voice could not be heard, so Eli thought she was drunk.
14 Eli said to her, "How long will you make a drunken show? Get rid of your wine!"
15 Hannah answered, "No, my lord; I am a woman burdened in spirit. Wine and strong drink I have not drunk; I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.
16 Do not take your servant for a daughter of Belial; it is out of my great distress and provocation that I have been speaking all this time."
17 Eli answered, "Go in peace. May the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him."
18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your sight." The woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early in the morning they rose and bowed down before the LORD, and then went back home to Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.
20 When the time came round, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, "because from the LORD I asked for him."
21 The man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer the yearly sacrifice to the LORD and to pay his vow.
22 Hannah did not go up. She told her husband, "Once the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear before the LORD and remain there for good."
23 Elkanah her husband told her, "Do what seems best to you. Stay until you have weaned him; only may the LORD confirm his word." So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the LORD's house at Shiloh. The child was just a child.
25 They slaughtered the bull and brought the child to Eli.
26 She said, "Pardon me, my lord! As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here near you praying to the LORD.
27 It was for this boy I prayed, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.
28 So I in turn have given him over to the LORD; all the days he lives he is given over to the LORD." And he bowed down there to the LORD.