撒母耳記上 第 1 章

There was a man from Armathaim Sipha, from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkana, son of Ieremeel, son of Eliou, son of Thoke, in Nasib of Ephraim.

And he had two wives: the name of the one was Anna, and the name of the second was Phennana. And Phennana had children, but Anna had no child.

And the man went up from year to year out of his city, out of Armathaim, to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord God Sabaoth at Selo. And Eli was there, and his two sons Ophni and Phinees, priests of the Lord.

And a day came, and Elkana sacrificed, and he gave portions to Phennana his wife and to her sons and to her daughters.

But to Anna he gave one portion, because she had no child; only that Elkana loved Anna more than this one, and the Lord had shut up the things concerning her womb.

For the Lord did not give her a child, according to her affliction and according to the despondency of her affliction; and she was despondent because of this, because the Lord had shut up the things concerning her womb so as not to give her a child.

So she did year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord; and she was despondent and wept and would not eat.

And Elkana her husband said to her, Anna. And she said to him, Here I am, my lord. And he said to her, What is the matter with you, that you weep? And why do you not eat? And why does your heart strike you? Am I not better to you than ten children?

And Anna rose up after they had eaten in Selo, and she stood before the Lord. And Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorposts of the temple of the Lord.

And she was bitter in soul, and she prayed to the Lord, and weeping she wept.

And she vowed a vow to the Lord, saying, Adonai, Lord, Eloai Sabaoth, if you will indeed look upon the humiliation of your slave woman and remember me and give to your slave woman the seed of men, then I will give him before you as one given, until the day of his death; and he shall drink no wine and no strong drink, and no iron shall come up upon his head.

And it came to pass, as she went on praying much before the Lord, that Eli the priest watched her mouth.

And she was speaking in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard; and Eli reckoned her to be a drunken woman.

And Eli's servant boy said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine and go from the presence of the Lord.

And Anna answered and said, No, my lord; I am a woman for whom the day is hard, and I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, and I am pouring out my soul before the Lord.

Do not regard your slave woman as a pestilent daughter, for out of the abundance of my musing I have drawn it out until now.

And Eli answered and said to her, Go in peace. May the God of Israel grant you your every request that you have asked of him.

And she said, Your slave woman has found favor in your eyes. And the woman went her way and entered her lodging and ate with her husband and drank, and her face was no longer fallen.

And they rose early in the morning and worshipped the Lord, and they went their way; and Elkana came into his house at Armathaim and knew Anna his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

And she conceived; and it came to pass at the time of the days that she bore a son, and she called his name Samouel, and said, Because I asked him of the Lord God Sabaoth.

And the man Elkana and all his house went up to sacrifice in Selom the sacrifice of the days, and his vows, and all the tithes of his land.

But Anna did not go up with him, for she said to her husband, Until the child goes up, when I have weaned him, then he shall appear before the face of the Lord, and he shall stay there forever.

And Elkana her husband said to her, Do what is good in your eyes; stay until you have weaned him. But may the Lord establish that which has gone out of your mouth. And the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

And she went up with him to Selom with a three-year-old calf and loaves and an oiphi of fine flour and a nebel of wine; and she entered the house of the Lord in Selom, and the child was with them.

And they brought him before the Lord, and his father slaughtered the sacrifice that he used to make from year to year to the Lord; and he brought the child near and slaughtered the calf, and Anna the mother of the child brought him to Eli.

And she said, I pray you, my lord; as your soul lives, I am the woman who stood before you praying to the Lord.

It was for this child that I prayed, and the Lord has given me my request that I asked of him.

And I lend him to the Lord all the days that he lives, as a loan to the Lord.