Hannah

hannah-smallGod Answered Hannah’s Prayer | 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11, 18-21, 26

There was a man who had two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. The man loved Hannah and treated her with special favor. But her rival kept provoking her until she wept and would not eat. This went on year after year. Her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Every year the man and his family went to worship at the house of God. One time, Hannah wept much and prayed to God. She made a vow, saying, “O Lord, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and give me a son, I will give him to God for all the days of his life. He will be dedicated to God.” The old priest Eli watched Hannah as she was praying. She was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she had been drinking too much and said to her, “How long will keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine!” Hannah replied, “I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to God.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may God grant you what you have asked of him.” Hannah went away, and her face was no longer downcast.  God remembered Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to a son named Samuel. When the man again went up with his family to the house of God, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before God and he will live there always.”

After Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him to the house of God. She brought the boy to Eli the priest and said, “I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to God. God has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him back to God. For his whole life he will be given over to God.” Then the man and his two wives and children returned to their home. But the boy Samuel remained at the house of God and ministered before God under the priest Eli. Each year Hannah made a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to the house of God. Eli blessed the man and his wife, saying, “May God give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she gave to God.” And God was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of God and became a great prophet.

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