1 Samuel 1:27 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.

NIV: I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

NASB: For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my request which I asked of Him.

CSB: I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked him for,

NLT: I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request.

KJV: For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

NKJV: For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.

Hannah has brought her son Samuel to dedicate him to lifelong service to the Lord at the temple in Shiloh. She does so as fulfillment of a vow she made to the Lord if He would give her a son (1 Samuel 1:11, 22). The Lord did as she asked. Now she has come to hand her son Samuel, perhaps three or four years old (1 Samuel 1:14), into the keeping of the Lord and the priest Eli.

Hannah reminds Eli (1 Samuel 1:26) of the night a few years earlier when he found her praying to the Lord with such emotion and intensity that he thought she was drunk (1 Samuel 1:9–18). She tells him now that this boy, Samuel, is the child she prayed for. The text does not say that Hannah had earlier specified her petition to the Lord; she had only told Eli that she was pouring out her soul to the Lord and praying out of deep distress. Here she tells the priest that she had prayed for a child, and God has granted her request. She uses the same language that Eli used a few years prior: "The God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him" (1 Samuel 1:17).

Whatever sadness Hannah may have felt at leaving the boy in Shiloh, she expresses only gratitude and joy at what the Lord has done for her.

First Samuel 1:21–28 tells of how Hannah and her husband Elkanah kept their vow to give a son back to the Lord if she could conceive and give birth to one. Hannah suggests they wait to take the child to Shiloh and give him to the priest until Samuel is weaned. Once he is, they take a large offering to the temple. Hannah tells Eli the priest that this is the boy she was praying for on the night they met. The Lord granted her request. She gives the boy over to the Lord for as long as he lives.

Elkanah lives in Ephraim with two wives. Hannah is barren, while his other wife has many children. At the annual family sacrifice and feast in Shiloh, Hannah weeps and pours out her grief before the Lord. She vows to give a son to Him for lifelong service if the Lord gives her a boy. After confronting Hannah for drunkenness and then seeing that she was praying from her depth of emotion, Eli the priest blesses Hannah and affirms her prayer. Elkanah and Hannah conceive, and she gives birth to a son that she names Samuel. Once he is weaned, she presents him to Eli at the temple and gives him over to the Lord as long as he lives.

First Samuel 1 begins the story of Samuel with the account of his unlikely-seeming birth. Samuel's mother Hannah is barren. During a family trip to temple of the Lord in Shiloh, she weeps bitterly before the Lord and pours out her grief. She vows to give a son back to the Lord if He will allow her to bear one. Eli the priest blesses her and affirms her prayer. Before long, Samuel is conceived and born. Once he is weaned, Hannah brings the boy and a large sacrifice to the temple. She gives Samuel over to the Lord.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.