1 Samuel 1

Translator Notes

1. The place name Ramathaim-zophim means 'the double height of the watchers' — ramathaim is a dual form of ramah ('height') and tsofim ('watchers, lookouts'). The genealogy traces four generations, rooting Elkanah in the tribe of Ephraim. The term Efrati here means 'Ephraimite' (a tribal designation), not 'Ephrathite' as in Ruth 1:2, where it refers to a clan in Judah. The distinction matters: this family belongs to the northern hill country, not to Bethlehem.
2. The fourfold genealogy (ben Yerocham ben Elihu ben Tochu ben Tsuf) is unusually detailed for a narrative opening, signaling that this family's lineage matters. Chronicles will later identify this line as Levitical (1 Chronicles 6:19-23), which would explain why Samuel can serve in the sanctuary despite being an Ephraimite by residence.

Translator Notes

1. The name Channah derives from chanan ('to be gracious, to show favor') — she is 'Grace' or 'Favored One,' though her situation at the story's opening is anything but gracious. Peninnah may derive from peninim ('corals, pearls') or from panah ('to turn'). The Hebrew states the contrast with stark simplicity: vayyehi li-Feninnah yeladim u-le-Channah ein yeladim ('and Peninnah had children and Hannah — no children'). The word ein ('there is not') is absolute negation.
2. The two-wife household echoes the pattern of Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29-30): one wife is fertile but less loved, the other is loved but barren. The narrative formula signals that the barren wife's story will be the one that matters.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase mi-yamim yamimah ('from days to days') is an idiom for 'year by year' or 'annually,' referring to the pilgrimage festivals. The title YHWH Tseva'ot ('LORD of Armies') appears here for the first time in the Hebrew Bible — this is its inaugural occurrence. The title designates God as commander of heavenly and earthly forces. Its first appearance in a story about a barren woman's prayer, rather than in a battle narrative, is striking: the God of cosmic armies attends to domestic grief.
2. The mention of Hophni and Phinehas is ominous foreshadowing. The narrator names them as 'priests of the LORD' but will shortly reveal them as corrupt (2:12-17). Their presence at Shiloh sets the stage for the crisis of the priesthood that Samuel will eventually address.

Translator Notes

1. The sacrificial meal was a communal feast following the offering — the family consumed their share of the peace offering (shelamim) together. The word manot ('portions') refers to the allocated shares of the sacrificial meat. Each family member received a designated portion. The detail that Peninnah's sons and daughters each received their own portion emphasizes the size of her family, making the contrast with Hannah more painful.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase manah achat appayim is notoriously difficult. It could mean 'one portion of the face/presence' (a choice portion), 'one portion double' (a double share), or even 'one portion — though with a sad face.' Most interpreters read it as a special or double portion expressing Elkanah's favor. We chose 'double portion' as the most natural reading — Elkanah compensates with generosity for what he cannot give her.
2. The clause va-YHWH sagar rachmah ('and the LORD had closed her womb') uses the divine name as the subject of the closing. This is not presented as punishment but as divine sovereignty — the narrator makes God the direct agent of Hannah's barrenness without explaining why. The word rechem ('womb') shares its root with rachamim ('compassion, mercy'), creating an irony: the organ associated with divine compassion has been shut by God.

Translator Notes

1. Peninnah is called tsaratah ('her rival wife') — the term tsarah specifically denotes a co-wife in a polygamous household and literally means 'her distress' or 'her adversary.' The very word for 'co-wife' in Hebrew contains the word for suffering. The verb ki'asattah ('she provoked her') paired with the intensifier gam ka'as ('also with provocation') and the purpose clause ba'avur har'imah ('in order to make her thunder/agitate') reveals Peninnah's cruelty as deliberate and sustained, not casual friction.
2. The narrator repeats ki sagar YHWH be'ad rachmah ('because the LORD had closed her womb') — the same theological claim from verse 5. The repetition frames Hannah's suffering between two causes: divine agency (God closed) and human cruelty (Peninnah provoked). The text refuses to choose between them.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase shanah be-shanah ('year by year') emphasizes that this was not a single incident but an annual humiliation timed to the pilgrimage festival — the very occasion meant for worship and communal joy becomes Hannah's recurring season of grief. The verb tivkeh ('she wept') and the clause lo tokhal ('she would not eat') describe Hannah's response in terms of mourning: weeping and refusing food are the classic signs of deep grief in Hebrew narrative (2 Samuel 12:16-17). Hannah mourns at the feast.

Translator Notes

1. Elkanah's three questions (why do you weep, why don't you eat, why is your heart bad) show genuine concern, but his final rhetorical question — halo anokhi tov lakh me-asarah vanim ('am I not better to you than ten sons?') — reveals that he does not fully understand her grief. He measures his love against the lack she feels, assuming that spousal devotion can substitute for the child she desperately wants. The number 'ten' (asarah) represents completeness and abundance. Elkanah is offering everything he has, but it is not the thing she needs.
2. The phrase yera levavekh ('your heart is bad/evil') uses the verb ra'a ('to be bad, evil, displeased') applied to the heart (levav). This is not moral judgment but emotional diagnosis — her inner self is in distress. The same phrase describes deep emotional pain elsewhere (Nehemiah 2:10, Jonah 4:1).

Translator Notes

1. The phrase acharei akhlah be-Shiloh ve-acharei shatoh ('after eating in Shiloh and after drinking') is ambiguous — the suffixes could refer to Hannah eating and drinking, or to the family eating and drinking. If Hannah, then she has recovered enough to eat before approaching God; if the family, then she goes to pray while others feast. Given verse 7's report that she would not eat, some interpreters read this as the broader family's meal.
2. Eli sits al ha-kisse al mezuzat hekhal YHWH ('on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD'). The word hekhal ('temple, palace') applied to the Shiloh sanctuary is significant — this is the central worship site before Jerusalem. The mezuzah ('doorpost') places Eli at the threshold, the liminal space between the sacred interior and the public courtyard. He occupies the position of gatekeeper.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase marat nefesh ('bitter of soul') uses the same root (marar) that Naomi invokes in Ruth 1:20 when she renames herself Mara. The nefesh is not merely 'soul' in the Greek philosophical sense but the entire living self — appetite, desire, identity. Hannah's bitterness has consumed her whole being.
2. The construction uvakho tivkeh ('weeping, she wept') is the infinitive absolute paired with the finite verb — Hebrew's strongest intensifier. It conveys not quiet tears but convulsive, uncontrollable weeping. The same construction appears in Genesis 2:17 (mot tamut, 'dying you will die') and here carries the same force of totality.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Hannah calls herself amatekha ('your female servant') three times in a single sentence — the repetition is emphatic and deliberate. The word amah denotes a female servant who has legal standing in the household, not a hired laborer. By calling herself God's amah, Hannah claims a position that entitles her to God's attention and care.
2. The phrase im ra'oh tir'eh ('if you will indeed look') uses the infinitive absolute construction — the same intensifying form as Hannah's weeping in verse 10. She asks God to look with the same totality with which she wept. The verb ra'ah ('to see') when applied to God carries the sense of attentive, compassionate recognition — not passive observation but active engagement with suffering.
3. The clause morah lo ya'aleh al rosho ('a razor will not go up upon his head') is nearly identical to the Nazirite language of Numbers 6:5 and to the angel's instructions regarding Samson (Judges 13:5). Hannah is dedicating her son as a lifelong Nazirite — consecrated to God from birth to death, not for a limited period. This is the most radical form of the vow.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase hirbetah lehitpallel ('she multiplied in praying') indicates prolonged, extended prayer — not a brief petition but sustained, persistent communion. The verb shomer ('watching, guarding, observing') applied to Eli watching her mouth (piha) creates a surveillance image: the priest is scrutinizing her lips. The irony will emerge in the next verse — Eli watches intently but completely misreads what he sees.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase medabberet al libbah ('speaking upon her heart') describes a mode of prayer that is internal but physically visible — her lips move (sefateiha na'ot) but her voice does not carry (qolah lo yishame'a). This is the Hebrew Bible's most detailed description of silent prayer, and rabbinic tradition (Talmud Berakhot 31a) derives the laws of the Amidah (standing prayer) from Hannah's posture here: prayer should be spoken with the lips but not shouted.
2. Eli's judgment — vayyachsheveha le-shikorah ('he considered her a drunkard') — is the priest's first act in the narrative, and it is a failure of discernment. The man whose job is to mediate between God and Israel cannot distinguish between drunkenness and devotion. This small detail previews the larger failure of the Eli priesthood that will drive much of 1 Samuel's plot.

Translator Notes

1. Eli's rebuke — ad matai tishtakkarin ('how long will you be drunk?') — uses the hitpael of shakar ('to be drunk'), implying ongoing or habitual drunkenness. He does not ask if she is drunk; he assumes it and demands she stop. The imperative hasiri et yeinekh me-alayikh ('remove your wine from upon you') treats her as if wine were a garment she is wearing. The priest's harsh judgment of a grieving woman at prayer is the narrative's first indication that the Shiloh priesthood has lost its spiritual sensitivity.

Translator Notes

1. Hannah's self-description — ishah qeshat ruach ('a woman hard/harsh of spirit') — uses qasheh ('hard, difficult, harsh') to describe her inner state. This is not gentle sadness but a spirit that has been compressed, hardened, and crushed under weight. The phrase va-eshpokh et nafshi ('I poured out my soul') uses the verb shafakh, which elsewhere describes pouring out blood (Genesis 9:6), pouring out water as a libation (2 Samuel 23:16), and pouring out divine wrath (Hosea 5:10). Hannah's prayer is a liquid metaphor — she has emptied her entire self before God.
2. The distinction between yayin ('wine') and shekhar ('strong drink') covers all intoxicants: yayin is fermented grape juice, shekhar is any other intoxicating beverage (possibly from dates, barley, or pomegranates). Hannah's denial is comprehensive — she has consumed nothing that could cause what Eli observed.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase bat beliyya'al ('daughter of Belial/worthlessness') is significant because the same term — benei beliyya'al ('sons of worthlessness') — will be applied to Eli's own sons in 2:12. Hannah begs not to be classed as what Eli's sons actually are. The word beliyya'al may derive from beli ('without') + ya'al ('worth, profit') — 'without worth' — or may be an older term for the underworld or chaos. It denotes someone beyond moral recovery.
2. Hannah's explanation — me-rov sichi ve-kha'si ('from the abundance of my complaint and my provocation/grief') — uses siach ('complaint, meditation, talk') and ka'as ('vexation, grief, provocation'). The word ka'as is the same root used for Peninnah's provocation in verses 6-7: Hannah's grief-prayer is fueled by the very torment her rival inflicts.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Eli's response — lekhi le-shalom ('go to peace') — is both a blessing and a dismissal. The preposition le ('to, toward') rather than be ('in') suggests movement toward peace rather than a static condition: 'go toward wholeness.' The word she'latekh ('your request') derives from sha'al ('to ask'), and Eli unknowingly activates the chapter's central wordplay: asher sha'alt me-immo ('what you asked from him'). The verb sha'al will echo through the naming of Samuel and connect forward to the naming of Saul. Eli, who could not discern her prayer, nevertheless speaks a prophetic blessing over it.

Translator Notes

1. Hannah now calls herself shifchatekha ('your maidservant') — a term of even deeper humility than amah used in verse 11. A shifchah is the lowest rank of female servant. The transformation is immediate: vattelekh ha-ishah le-darkkah vattokhal ('the woman went her way and ate'). After refusing food in verse 7, she now eats. The phrase u-faneiha lo hayu lah od ('and her face was not to her anymore') is literally 'her faces were no longer hers' — meaning her expression of grief had departed. Something shifted in the act of praying and receiving Eli's blessing. The text does not say she received an answer — only that she prayed, was blessed, and her countenance changed.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyeda ('he knew') is the standard Hebrew euphemism for sexual intimacy — the same verb used in Genesis 4:1 ('Adam knew Eve'). The sequence is deliberate: worship, return, intimacy, divine remembering. The sacred and the domestic are woven together without embarrassment.
2. The clause vayyizkerehah YHWH ('and the LORD remembered her') is the theological climax of the chapter's first movement. The verb zakar ('to remember') when God is the subject does not imply prior forgetfulness — it signals that God is now acting on what He has always known. The same divine remembering opens wombs (Rachel, Genesis 30:22), ends floods (Noah, Genesis 8:1), and initiates deliverance (Israel in Egypt, Exodus 2:24).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase li-tequfot ha-yamim ('at the turning of the days') refers to the completion of a pregnancy cycle — approximately nine months from conception. The word tequfah ('turning, circuit, revolution') emphasizes the cyclical nature of time and the fulfillment of a natural period.
2. The name etymology is the chapter's most discussed translation problem. Hannah says ki me-YHWH she'iltiv ('because from the LORD I asked him') — but the verb sha'al ('to ask') produces the name Sha'ul, not Shemu'el. The name Shemu'el most naturally means 'his name is God' (shemu + El) or 'heard by God' (shama + El). Some scholars see this as evidence that the birth narrative originally belonged to Saul and was later transferred to Samuel. Others argue that Hebrew name etymologies are often folk explanations based on sound association rather than strict derivation — Hannah hears sha'al in Shemu'el. We render the text as given and note the tension.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase zevach ha-yamim ('the sacrifice of the days') refers to the annual pilgrimage sacrifice — the same journey described in verse 3. The addition of ve-et nidro ('and his vow') reveals that Elkanah had also made a vow, though the text never records it. This is one of several narrative gaps in the chapter: we learn of Elkanah's vow only at its fulfillment. Some commentators suggest his vow was connected to Hannah's — perhaps confirming or endorsing her dedication of their son.

Translator Notes

1. The verb yiggamel ('is weaned') indicates that Hannah keeps the child until weaning, which in the ancient Near East typically occurred around age three (cf. 2 Maccabees 7:27). These are the only years Hannah will have with her son. The phrase ve-yashav sham ad olam ('and he will dwell there forever') transforms a mother's personal sacrifice into a permanent consecration. The word olam ('forever, perpetuity') makes the dedication irrevocable — this is not a loan but a permanent transfer.
2. The phrase ve-nir'ah et penei YHWH ('and he will appear before the face of the LORD') uses the niphal of ra'ah — literally 'he will be seen before the LORD's face.' Appearing before God's face is pilgrimage language, but for Samuel it will become a permanent state: he will live in God's presence at Shiloh.

Translator Notes

1. Elkanah's response — asi ha-tov be-einayikh ('do what is good in your eyes') — grants Hannah full authority over the timing. His blessing akh yaqem YHWH et devaro ('only may the LORD establish his word') raises a textual question: whose word? The Masoretic text reads devaro ('his word'), suggesting God's word — perhaps Eli's prophetic blessing in verse 17. The Septuagint and a Qumran manuscript (4QSam-a) read 'that which comes from your mouth,' suggesting Hannah's vow. We follow the MT but note the variant.
2. The verb vatteineq ('she nursed') followed by ad gomlah oto ('until she weaned him') compresses months or years of intimacy into a single clause. Every day of nursing is a day closer to giving the boy away. The narrative's restraint is quietly devastating — it does not describe Hannah's emotions during this period, leaving the reader to feel what the text will not say.

Translator Notes

1. The offerings are substantial: three bulls (parim sheloshah), one ephah of flour (approximately 22 liters or half a bushel), and a skin of wine (nevel yayin). The Septuagint and 4QSam-a read 'a three-year-old bull' (par meshuллash) rather than 'three bulls' — which would match the boy's approximate age and provide a single animal for the dedication. The MT's 'three bulls' is the more difficult reading and thus often preferred by text critics.
2. The final phrase ve-ha-na'ar na'ar ('and the boy was a boy') seems redundant but serves a narrative purpose — it emphasizes just how young Samuel was. Some render this as 'the boy was still a child' or 'the boy was very young.' The repetition underscores the cost of Hannah's vow: she is handing over a toddler to serve in the sanctuary.

Translator Notes

1. The singular ha-par ('the bull') here supports the Septuagint reading of 'a three-year-old bull' in verse 24, since only one animal is slaughtered. If the MT's 'three bulls' is correct, two may have been offered as additional sacrifices while one was the primary offering. The juxtaposition is stark: vayyishchatu et ha-par vayyavi'u et ha-na'ar ('they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy') — the sacrifice and the dedication are described in the same breath, with the same narrative pace. Hannah offers both an animal and a child, though only the animal dies.

Translator Notes

1. Hannah's oath formula — chei nafshekha adoni ('as your soul lives, my lord') — is a solemn assertion of truth, invoking Eli's own life as guarantee. She identifies herself as ha-ishah ha-nitsevet immekha ba-zeh ('the woman who was standing with you in this place'). The participle nitsevet ('standing') recalls her posture of prayer — she stood to pray, a detail the rabbinic tradition notes as establishing the norm for the Amidah. The word ba-zeh ('in this [place]') anchors the identification to this specific location in the sanctuary.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The sha'al wordplay reaches its climax: vayyitten YHWH li et she'elati asher sha'alti me-immo ('the LORD gave me my request which I asked from him'). The noun she'elah ('request, petition') and the verb sha'al ('to ask') appear together, driving home the point: this child is the physical answer to an act of asking. The boy standing before Eli is living proof that God responds to desperate prayer. Hannah's statement also functions as a legal transfer — by identifying the boy as the answer to her vow, she establishes the basis for his dedication.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb hish'iltihu is the hiphil (causative) of sha'al — literally 'I have caused him to be asked' or 'I have lent/dedicated him.' The play is untranslatable: sha'al means both 'to ask for' and 'to lend,' so Hannah has 'asked' her son from God and now 'lends' him back using the same verb. The word sha'ul ('asked, lent, dedicated') in the clause hu sha'ul la-YHWH is identical to the name Sha'ul (Saul). This final verse welds Samuel's identity to Saul's name through a shared verbal root.
2. The final clause vayyishtachu sham la-YHWH ('and he worshiped the LORD there') is ambiguous in subject — the Hebrew could refer to Elkanah, to Samuel, or even to Eli. The Septuagint reads the plural ('they worshiped'). If Samuel is the subject, the boy's first recorded act in the sanctuary is worship — fitting for one who will spend his life in God's service.