1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exulteth in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies; for I rejoice in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Do not multiply your words of pride, let not vain-glory come out of your mouth; For Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4 The bow of the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 5 They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and the hungry are [so] no more: Even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 6 Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up. 7 Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich, he bringeth low, also he lifteth up: 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, To set [him] among nobles; and he maketh them inherit a throne of glory; For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, and he hath set the world upon them. 9 He keepeth the feet of his saints, but the wicked are silenced in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10 They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; in the heavens will he thunder upon them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. 11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the boy ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest. 12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah. 13 And the priests' custom with the people was, when any man sacrificed a sacrifice, the priest's servant came, when the flesh was cooked, with a flesh-hook of three prongs in his hand; 14 and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; the priest took of it all that the flesh-hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came there. 15 Even before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and he will not accept sodden flesh of thee, but raw. 16 If the man said to him, They will immediately burn the fat entire, then take as thy soul desires; he would say [to him], No, but thou shalt give [it] now; and if not, I will take [it] by force. 17 And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah, for men despised the offering of Jehovah. 18 And Samuel ministered before Jehovah, a boy girded with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to sacrifice the yearly sacrifice. 20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to Jehovah. And they went to their own home. 21 So Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before Jehovah. 22 And Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they lay with the women that served at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil deeds from all this people. 24 No, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people transgress. 25 If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was minded to slay them. 26 And the boy Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with Jehovah and also with men. 27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Did I plainly reveal myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house, 28 and choose him out of all the tribes of Israel, to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear the ephod before me? and I gave unto the house of thy father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel. 29 Wherefore do ye trample upon my sacrifice and upon mine oblation which I have commanded [in my] habitation? And thou honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the primest of all the oblations of Israel my people. 30 Wherefore Jehovah the God of Israel saith, I said indeed, Thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever. But now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house. 32 And thou shalt see an oppressor [in my] habitation, amidst all the good that shall be done to Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever. 33 And the man of thine [whom] I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to cause thine eyes to fail and to grieve thy soul; and all the increase of thy house shall die in their vigour. 34 And this shall be the sign to thee, which shall come upon thy two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. 35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, [who] shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed continually. 36 And it shall come to pass [that] every one that is left of thy house shall come to crouch to him for a small piece of silver and for a cake of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priestly offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
1 Samuel 2 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Eli
The priest at Shiloh who judged Israel forty years, blessed Hannah, took in the boy Samuel, failed to restrain his wicked sons, and died at ninety-eight when he heard the ark of…
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 2:22
Hophni
A priest at Shiloh and son of Eli, who treated the LORD's offering with contempt and died the same day as his brother Phinehas when the ark of God was captured.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 2:34; 1 Samuel 4:4
Phinehas
A priest at Shiloh and son of Eli, who died on the day the ark of God was captured; his wife died in childbirth after naming their son Ichabod.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 2:34; 1 Samuel 4:4
Cross references (36)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Luke 1:46–56; Psalm 13:5; Isaiah 12:2–3; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 92:10
- 2 2 Samuel 22:32; Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 86:8; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 89:8
- 3 1 Kings 8:39; Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 24:12; Jude 15–16; Hebrews 4:12
- 4 Psalm 76:3; Psalm 37:15; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 46:9; Hebrews 11:34
- 5 Psalm 113:9; Jeremiah 15:9; Luke 1:53; Psalm 34:10; Isaiah 54:1
- 6 Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 26:19; Jonah 2:2–6; 2 Kings 5:7; Job 5:18
- 7 Psalm 75:7; Job 5:11; Deuteronomy 8:17–18; Job 1:21; James 4:10
- 8 Psalm 113:7–8; James 2:5; Daniel 2:48; Daniel 6:3; 1 Samuel 15:17
- 9 Psalm 91:11–12; Psalm 121:3; Psalm 33:16–17; 1 Peter 1:5; Job 5:24
- 10 Psalm 2:9; Psalm 89:24; Psalm 18:13–14; Psalm 96:13; Exodus 15:6
- 11 1 Samuel 2:18; 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 1:28; 1 Samuel 1:19; 1 Samuel 3:15
- 12 Romans 1:28–30; Jeremiah 2:8; Romans 1:21; Judges 2:10; 2 Corinthians 6:15
- 13 Leviticus 7:29–34
- 14 Exodus 29:27–28; 1 Samuel 2:29; Isaiah 56:11; 2 Peter 2:13–15; Malachi 1:10
- 15 Leviticus 3:16; Romans 16:18; Leviticus 3:3–5; Philippians 3:19; Jude 12
- 16 Leviticus 7:23–25; Leviticus 3:16; 1 Peter 5:2–3; Judges 18:25; Nehemiah 5:15
- 17 Malachi 2:7–9; Genesis 13:13; Malachi 2:13; Genesis 6:11; 2 Kings 21:6
- 18 Exodus 28:4; 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 2:11; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Samuel 22:18
- 19 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 1:21; Exodus 23:14
- 20 1 Samuel 1:27–28; Luke 2:34; Ruth 4:11; Genesis 27:27–29; Ruth 2:12
- 21 Luke 2:40; Genesis 21:1; 1 Samuel 3:19; 1 Samuel 2:26; Judges 13:24
- 22 Exodus 38:8; Jeremiah 7:9–10; 1 Samuel 2:13–17; Hosea 4:9–11; Ezekiel 22:26
- 23 Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 3:3; Acts 9:4; Jeremiah 8:12; Acts 14:15
- 24 1 Kings 15:30; 2 Corinthians 6:8; Acts 6:3; 1 Timothy 3:7; Matthew 18:7
- 25 Joshua 11:20; Numbers 15:30; Hebrews 10:26; 1 Samuel 3:14; 1 Timothy 2:5
- 26 Luke 2:52; Luke 2:40; Acts 2:47; Luke 1:80; 1 Samuel 2:21
- 27 Judges 13:6; 1 Kings 13:1; Deuteronomy 33:1; Exodus 4:14–16; Exodus 4:27
- 28 Exodus 28:1; Leviticus 8:7–8; Numbers 18:19; Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 7:34–35
- 29 Matthew 10:37; Deuteronomy 32:15; 1 Samuel 2:13–17; Malachi 1:12–13; Luke 14:26
- 30 John 12:26; Jeremiah 18:9–10; Proverbs 3:9–10; Malachi 1:6; Psalm 91:14
- 31 1 Samuel 22:17–20; 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 4:11–20; 1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 4:2
- 32 Zechariah 8:4; 1 Samuel 4:11; Psalm 78:59–64; 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 4:22
- 33 1 Kings 2:26–27; 1 Samuel 22:21–23; 1 Kings 1:19; 1 Kings 1:7; Matthew 2:16–18
- 34 1 Samuel 4:11; 1 Kings 13:3; 1 Samuel 4:17; 1 Samuel 3:12; 1 Kings 14:12
- 35 2 Samuel 7:27; 2 Samuel 7:11; 1 Kings 11:38; 1 Samuel 25:28; Psalm 18:50
- 36 1 Kings 2:27; Ezekiel 44:10–12; Malachi 1:13; 1 Samuel 2:29–30
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The Lord hath ascended into the heavens, and hath thundered: He shall judge the ends of the earth, for He is righteous: and He giveth strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ." Do you say that these are the words of a single weak woman giving thanks for the birth of a son?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
"For them that glorify me," saith He, "I will glorify; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed." Let us, I say, do all things unto His glory; that we may attain unto that blessed portion, unto which God grant we may all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
If thou findest fault with Him who saith, The Lord killeth, and maketh alive, why dost thou honour Peter, who raised up Tabitha, but struck Sapphira dead?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
For even as ten thousand times signifies often, so here too. For by saying, "The barren hath borne seven," the Scripture means many.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)