Chapter
Verse

1 Samuel 1:13

ESV Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.
NIV Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk
NASB As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were quivering, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought that she was drunk.
CSB Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk
NLT Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.
KJV Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
NKJV Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

What does 1 Samuel 1:13 mean?

Hannah prayed intensely in the temple, moving her lips without making a sound. She had traveled to Shiloh for an annual sacrifice along with her husband, his second wife, and their children. Hannah, herself, had no children, which was an especially bitter situation in that era. Even so, her husband loved her greatly. Yet, Hannah grieved over her lack of children, and her husband's second wife purposely provoked her (1 Samuel 1:1–8). Distraught, Hannah prayed to God and wept (1 Samuel 1:10). She vowed to give a son to the Lord for his entire life if God would make her able to have a son (1 Samuel 1:11).

Eli, the high priest of the temple at Shiloh, began to watch her at some point (1 Samuel 1:9, 12). Hannah was apparently so animated in her prayer, even though she was silent, that she appeared drunk to him. This would not have been an outrageous assumption. The annual family feast likely included much eating and drinking, and she had just come to the temple from the feast (1 Samuel 1:9). Hannah, though, had not been drinking (1 Samuel 1:15). The intensity of her grief had compelled her to pour out her request to the Lord with all the emotion she was feeling. It wasn't pretty, but it was real. It was a prayer of genuine faith.
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