1. There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2. He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3. Each year this man went up from his city to worship and offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were ministering as priests of the Lord.
4. When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters,
5. but he would give a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
6. Her rival, to upset her, would torment her constantly, since the Lord had closed her womb.
7. Year after year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, Peninnah would provoke her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat.
8. Elkanah, her husband, would say to her: “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you not eating? Why are you so miserable? Am I not better for you than ten sons?”
9. Hannah rose after one such meal at Shiloh, and presented herself before the Lord; at the time Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.
10. In her bitterness she prayed to the Lord, weeping freely,
11. and made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if you look with pity on the hardship of your servant, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. No razor shall ever touch his head.”
12. As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth,
13. for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking she was drunk,