1. Hannah prayed:You make me strongand happy, Lord.You rescued me.Now I can be gladand laugh at my enemies.
2. No other god is like you.We're safer with youthan on a high mountain.
3. I can tell those proud people,“Stop your boasting!Nothing is hidden from the Lord,and he judges what we do.”
4. Our Lord, you breakthe bows of warriors,but you give strengthto everyone who stumbles.
5. People who oncehad plenty to eatmust now hire themselves outfor only a piece of bread.But you give the hungry morethan enough to eat.A woman did not have a child,and you gave her seven,but a woman who had manywas left with none.
6. You take away life,and you give life.You send people downto the world of the deadand bring them back again.
7. Our Lord, you are the onewho makes us rich or poor.You put some in high positionsand bring disgrace on others.
8. You lift the poor and homelessout of the rubbish dumpand give them places of honourin royal palaces.You set the world on foundations,and they belong to you.
9. You protect your loyal people,but everyone who is evilwill die in darkness.We cannot win a victoryby our own strength.
10. Our Lord, those who attack youwill be broken in pieceswhen you fight backwith thunder from heaven.You will judge the whole earthand give power and strengthto your chosen king.
11. Elkanah and Hannah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed to help Eli serve the Lord.
12-13. Eli's sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the Lord. So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork.
14. The servant would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out on the fork was taken back to the priests. That is how these two priests treated every Israelite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh.
15. Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to the Lord.Then the servant would tell them, “The priest doesn't want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!”
16. Usually the people answered, “Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the Lord.”“No,” the servant would reply. “If you don't give it to me now, I'll take it by force.”
17. Eli's sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the Lord very angry.
18. The boy Samuel served the Lord and wore a special linen garment