1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah Exalts the Lord in Prayer

2:1 Hannah prayed,¹

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

my horn² is exalted high because of the Lord.

I loudly denounce³ my enemies,

for I am happy that you delivered me.⁴

1 Samuel 2:33

2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your⁵ eyes to fail⁶ and will cause you grief.⁷ All of those born to your family⁸ will die in the prime of life.⁹

1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty¹⁰ and he will serve my chosen one for all time.¹¹

1 Samuel 3:5-6

3:5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli¹² said, “I didn’t call you. Go back and lie down.” So he went back and lay down. 3:6 The Lord again called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli¹³ said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.”

1 Samuel 4:16

4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli¹⁴ asked, “How did things go, my son?”

1 Samuel 9:8

9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel¹⁵ of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.”¹⁶

1 Samuel 10:8

10:8 You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

1 Samuel 12:2

12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

1 Samuel 12:23

12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright.

1 Samuel 14:43

14:43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!”¹⁷

1 Samuel 15:30

15:30 Saul¹⁸ again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.”

1 Samuel 16:2

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you¹⁹ and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

1 Samuel 18:18

18:18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father²⁰ in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

1 Samuel 20:1

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked,²¹ “What have I done? What is my offense?²² How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

1 Samuel 20:5

20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal.²³ You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

1 Samuel 22:22

22:22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul! I am guilty²⁴ of all the deaths in your father’s house!

1 Samuel 23:23

23:23 Locate precisely all the places where he hides and return to me with dependable information.²⁵ Then I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will find him²⁶ among all the thousands of Judah.”

1 Samuel 25:21

25:21 Now David had been thinking,²⁷ “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

1 Samuel 27:5

27:5 David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?”

1 Samuel 30:8

30:8 David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue!”

1 Samuel 30:13

30:13 David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” The young man said, “I am an Egyptian, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me when I was ill for three days.

¹tn Heb “prayed and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

²sn Horns of animals have always functioned as both offensive and defensive weapons for them. As a figure of speech the horn is therefore often used in the Bible as a symbol of human strength (see also in v. 10). The allusion in v. 1 to the horn being lifted high suggests a picture of an animal elevating its head in a display of strength or virility.

³tn Heb “my mouth opens wide against.”

⁴tn Heb “for I rejoice in your deliverance.”

⁵tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

⁶tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

⁷tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

⁸tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

⁹tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

¹⁰tn Heb “house.”

¹¹tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

¹²tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).

¹⁶tn Heb “our way.”

¹⁷tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

¹⁸tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹tn Heb “in your hand.”

²⁰tn Heb “Who are my relatives, the clan of my father?” The term חַי (khay), traditionally understood as “my life,” is here a rare word meaning “family, kinfolk” (see HALOT 309 s.v. III חַי). The phrase “clan of my father” may be a scribal gloss explaining the referent of this rare word.

²¹tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”

²²tn Heb “What is my guilt?”

²³tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

²⁴tc The translation follows the LXX, which reads “I am guilty,” rather than the MT, which has “I have turned.”

²⁵tn Heb “established.”

²⁶tn Heb “I will search him out.”

²⁷tn Heb “said.”