1 Samuel 1:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD.

NIV: and she said to him, 'Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

NASB: And she said, 'Pardon me, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord.

CSB: "Please, my lord," she said, "as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.

NLT: Sir, do you remember me?' Hannah asked. 'I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord.

KJV: And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.

NKJV: And she said, “O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord.

The moment has come. Was Hannah heartbroken to leave her boy Samuel with the priest Eli at the temple of the Lord in Shiloh to fulfill her vow (1 Samuel 1:11)? The text does not say so, though we wouldn't be surprised to hear that she had some sadness about letting Samuel go. Still, the only emotion we see is deep gratitude and joy while she is explaining to Eli who she and the boy are.

A few years earlier, Hannah had come to the temple at Shiloh with her husband as well as his second wife and their children. Hannah had no children and her husband's other wife intentionally provoked her. In her distress, Hannah went to the temple and poured out her soul to the Lord in prayer. She also promised that if God gave her a son, she would return that son to the Lord for his entire life. When Eli, the temple priest, saw Hannah in prayer, He thought she was drunk. He confronted Hannah and learned that she was praying. Eli blessed her and affirmed her prayer (1 Samuel 1:1–18). Here, Hannah is telling Eli she is the woman with whom he had that interaction.

Hannah calls the old priest "my lord," a term of respect (1 Samuel 1:15–16, 18), and reveals that she is the woman who stood in his presence just a few years earlier praying so intensely to the Lord. The text does not tell us whether she reminded Eli that he thought she was drunk, but Hannah seems to think Eli remembers 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.