¹ There was a man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the highlands of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

² He had two wives, one called Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children but Hannah had none.

³ Every year this man used to go up from his town to worship, and to sacrifice to Yahweh Sabaoth at Shiloh. (The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there as priests of Yahweh.)

⁴ One day Elkanah offered a sacrifice. Now he used to give portions to Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;

⁵ to Hannah, however, he would give only one portion: for, although he loved Hannah more, Yahweh had made her barren.

⁶ Furthermore, her rival would taunt and provoke her, because Yahweh had made her womb barren.

⁷ And this went on year after year; every time they went up to the temple of Yahweh she used to taunt her. On that day she wept and would not eat anything;

⁸ so her husband Elkanah said, 'Hannah, why are you crying? Why are you not eating anything? Why are you so sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?'

⁹ When they had finished eating in the room, Hannah got up and stood before Yahweh. Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.

¹⁰ In the bitterness of her soul she prayed to Yahweh with many tears,

¹¹ and she made this vow, 'Yahweh Sabaoth! Should you condescend to notice the humiliation of your servant and keep her in mind instead of disregarding your servant, and give her a boy, I will give him to Yahweh for the whole of his life and no razor shall ever touch his head.'

¹² While she went on praying to Yahweh, Eli was watching her mouth,

¹³ for Hannah was speaking under her breath; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard, and Eli thought that she was drunk.

¹⁴ Eli said, 'How much longer are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine.'

¹⁵ 'No, my lord,' Hannah replied, 'I am a woman in great trouble; I have not been drinking wine or strong drink -- I am pouring out my soul before Yahweh.

¹⁶ Do not take your servant for a worthless woman; all this time I have been speaking from the depth of my grief and my resentment.'

¹⁷ Eli then replied, 'Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him.'

¹⁸ To which she said, 'May your servant find favour in your sight.' With that, the woman went away; she began eating and was dejected no longer.

¹⁹ They got up early in the morning and, after worshipping Yahweh, set out and went home to Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah, and Yahweh remembered her.

²⁰ Hannah conceived and, in due course, gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel, 'since', she said, 'I asked Yahweh for him.'

²¹ Elkanah, the husband, went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to Yahweh and to fulfil his vow.

²² However, Hannah did not go up, having said to her husband, 'Not before the child has been weaned. Then I shall bring him and present him before Yahweh and he will stay there for ever.'

²³ Elkanah her husband then said to her, 'Do what you think fit; wait until you have weaned him. May Yahweh bring about what he has said.' So the woman stayed behind and nursed her child until she weaned him.

²⁴ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, as well as a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and took him into the temple of Yahweh at Shiloh; the child was very young.

²⁵ They sacrificed the bull and led the child to Eli.

²⁶ She said, 'If you please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood beside you here, praying to Yahweh.

²⁷ This is the child for which I was praying, and Yahweh has granted me what I asked of him.

²⁸ Now I make him over to Yahweh for the whole of his life. He is made over to Yahweh.' They then worshipped Yahweh there.

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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