1 Samuel 1

³⁴the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,

²⁵The descendants of Elkanah: Amasai, Ahimoth,

²⁶Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son,

¹⁹The next morning they got up early to bow in worship before the Lord, and then they returned home to Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.

²The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.

¹Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim

⁵When they reached the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Come, let us go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.

²¹Later, Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

²Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

³¹When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

²³Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

⁴¹Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

⁶To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

²³Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

¹⁴Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

²¹Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow,

¹⁷Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.

¹⁸Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in all you do,

¹¹and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

⁶To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

¹⁵The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning.

⁴both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

¹⁸for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

²²He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.

³⁴When the portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of the others. So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph.

¹⁴A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

²¹They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

¹⁸You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.

¹⁹Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

¹⁵He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁴A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

⁶For the Lord has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

¹³“Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked. “Because they have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I do not know where they have put Him.”

³Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.

⁴One thing I have asked of the Lord; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple.

⁷But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.

²he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

⁹The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁵Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

⁴⁴And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

⁷During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

⁶For the Lord has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.

⁵For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁵For the entire period of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. He must be holy until the time of his separation to the Lord is complete; he must let the hair of his head grow long.

³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

¹⁸Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:

⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

⁴²So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success!

⁴³Here I am, standing beside this spring. Now if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar,’

¹³But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”

¹Of David. To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul;

¹⁵The Lord of Hosts will shield them. They will destroy and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and roar as with wine. And they will be filled like sprinkling bowls, drenched like the corners of the altar.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.

⁹How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents

²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

³How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

¹²And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁸Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.

⁴These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the festive procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.

⁶I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

²I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.

³Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

¹²Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord

¹³that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

²“If only my grief could be weighed and placed with my calamity on the scales.

³For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been rash.

²⁵My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

³⁴“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your affliction.”

⁶And the priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over your journey.”

³May He remember all your gifts and look favorably on your burnt offerings. Selah

⁴May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

³⁵Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

¹⁹“Go in peace,” said Elisha. But after Naaman had traveled a short distance,

⁵⁰And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

¹³“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

¹Now the Lord attended to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.

¹And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man,” she said.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

¹⁴⁷I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.

⁷Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O Lord.

⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.”

⁵²And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

²¹She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

¹⁰When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”

²²And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

¹¹The angel of the Lord proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.

³Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord.

¹¹then the Lord your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

¹⁵But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

²I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.

¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

²⁸I now dedicate the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

²²And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

¹⁶Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.

¹¹Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the Lord before Eli the priest.

¹⁸Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod.

²⁵And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised,

²⁷As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”

¹⁹How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!

²⁶who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’

⁹Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast.

¹⁷“Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.”

⁹present with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil.

¹⁰Also present half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

³When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the Lord brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.”

⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

⁶To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

¹¹then the Lord your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

¹⁶Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.

¹⁵Now people were even bringing their babies to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them. And when the disciples saw this, they rebuked those who brought them.

¹⁶But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

²²And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

⁶And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

⁴And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

³⁰And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

²and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

⁵⁵As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”

³But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

¹⁹But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

⁷Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

⁵In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered and set me free.

⁹The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

¹²As Hannah kept on praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth.

²⁶Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord,

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

¹⁵From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

⁴⁸Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord; and I blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.