Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Samuel 1
⁸ “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”
⁹ Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle.
¹⁰ Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD.
¹¹ And she made this vow: “O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut.”
¹² As she was praying to the LORD, Eli watched her.
¹³ Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.
¹⁴ “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”
¹⁵ “Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD.
¹⁶ Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”
¹⁷ “In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
¹⁸ “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.