Hannah got up after the eating in Shiloh and after the drinking. Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of Yahweh’s palace. She was bitter in spirit but she made a plea to Yahweh and cried and cried, and she made a pledge.
She said, ‘Yahweh of Armies, if you actually look at your handmaid’s humbling and you’re mindful of me, and you don’t put your handmaid out of mind but give your handmaid a male offspring, I’ll give him to Yahweh all the days of his life. No razor will go up on his head.’
Because she was doing much pleading before Yahweh, and Eli was watching her mouth, and Hannah was speaking in her heart (only her lips were quivering, but her voice did not make itself heard), Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, ‘How long will you behave like a drunk? Put your wine away from you.’ Hannah answered, ‘No, sir, I’m a tough-spirited woman and I haven’t drunk wine or liquor. I’ve poured myself out before Yahweh. Don’t make your handmaid into a scoundrelous woman, because it was out of the dimensions of my tetchiness and my provocation that I’ve spoken until now.’ Eli answered, ‘Go, things will be well. The God of Yisra’el: he will give the thing that you’ve asked of him.’ She said, ‘May your maidservant find grace in your eyes.’ The woman went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer [the same]. They started early in the morning, bowed low before Yahweh, and went back and came to their home in The Height.
Elqanah had sex with his wife Hannah and Yahweh was mindful of her, and at the end of the year Hannah had got pregnant. She gave birth to a son and named him Shemu’el [Samuel], because ‘I asked [sha’al] for him from Yahweh.’
Goldingay, John;The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen