Kings I 1

1 There was a man of Armathaim Sipha, of mount Ephraim, and his name [was] Helkana, a son of Jeremeel the son of Elias the son of Thoke, in Nasib Ephraim.

2 And he [had] two wives; the name of the one [was] Anna, and the name of the second Phennana. And Phennana had children, but Anna had no child.

3 And the man went up from year to year from his city, from Armathaim, to worship and sacrifice to the Lord God of Sabaoth at Selom: and [there were] Heli and his two sons Ophni and Phinees, the priests of the Lord.

4 And the day came, and Helkana sacrificed, and gave portions to his wife Phennana and her children.

5 And to Anna he gave a prime portion, because she had no child, only Helkana loved Anna more than the other; but the Lord [had] closed her womb.

6 For the Lord gave her no child in her affliction, and according to the despondency of her affliction; and she was dispirited on this account, that the Lord shut up her womb so as not to give her a child.

7 So she did year by year, in going up to the house of the Lord; and she was dispirited, and wept, and did not eat.

8 And Helkana her husband said to her, Anna: and she said to him, Here [am] I, my lord: and he said to her, What ails you that you weep? and why do you not eat? and why does your heart strike you? [am] I not better to you than ten children?

9 And Anna rose up after they had eaten in Selom, and stood before the Lord: and Heli the priest [was] on a seat by the threshold of the temple of the Lord.

10 And she [was] very much grieved in spirit, and prayed to the Lord, and wept abundantly.

11 And she vowed a vow to the Lord, saying, O Lord God of Sabaoth, if you welt indeed look upon the humiliation of your handmaid, and remember me, and give to your handmaid a boy, then will I indeed dedicate him to you till the day of his death; and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and no razor shall come upon his head.

12 And it came to pass, while she was long praying before the Lord, that Heli the priest marked her mouth.

13 And she was speaking in her heart, and her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: and Heli accounted her a drunken woman.

14 And the servant of Heli said to her, How long will you be drunken? take away your wine from you, and go out from the presence of the Lord.

15 And Anna answered and said, Nay, my lord, [I live] in a hard day, and I have not drunk wine or strong drink, and I pour out my soul before the Lord.

16 Count not your handmaid for a pestilent woman, for by reason of the abundance of my importunity I have continued [my prayer] until now.

17 And Heli answered and said to her, Go in peace: the God of Israel give you all your petition, which you have asked of him.

18 And she said, Your handmaid has found favor in your eyes: and the woman went her way, and entered into her lodging, and ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was no more sad.

19 And they rise early in the morning, and worship the Lord, and they go their way: and Helkana went into his house at Armathaim, and knew his wife Anna; and the Lord remembered her, and she conceived.

20 And it came to pass when the time was come, that she brought forth a son, and called his name Samuel, and said, Because I asked him of the Lord God of Sabaoth.

21 And the man Helkana and all his house went up to offer in Selom the yearly sacrifice, and his vows, and all the tithes of his land.

22 But Anna did not go up with him, for she said to her husband, [I will not go up] until the child goes up, when I have weaned him, and he shall be presented before the Lord, and he shall abide there continually.

23 And Helkana her husband said to her, Do that which is good in your eyes, abide still until you shall have weaned him; but may the Lord establish that which comes out of your mouth: and the woman tarried, and suckled her son until she had weaned him.

24 And she went up with him to Selom with a calf of three years old, and loaves, and an ephah of fine flour, and a bottle of wine: and she entered into the house of the Lord in Selom, and the child with them.

25 And they brought him before the Lord; and his father killed his offering which he offered from year to year to the Lord; and he brought near the child, and killed the calf; and Anna the mother of the child brought him to Heli.

26 And she said, I pray you, my lord, as your soul lives, I [am] the woman that stood in your presence with you while praying to the Lord.

27 For this child I prayed; and the Lord has given me my request that I asked of him.

28 And I lend him to the Lord all his days that he lives, a loan to the Lord: and she said,