There was a man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites, in the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.
This man used to go up from his town every year to worship and to offer sacrifice to God of Hosts at Shiloh.—Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of God there. One such day, Elkanah offered a sacrifice. He used to give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he would give one portion only—though Hannah was his favorite—for God had closed her womb. Moreover, her rival, to make her miserable, would taunt her that God had closed her womb. This happened year after year: Every time she went up to the House of God, the other would taunt her, so that she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying and why aren’t you eating? Why are you so sad? Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?”
After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose.—The priest Eli was sitting on the seat near the doorpost of the temple of God.— In her wretchedness, she prayed to God, weeping all the while. And she made this vow: “O God of Hosts, if You will look upon the suffering of Your maidservant and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant a male child, I will dedicate him to God for all the days of his life; and no razor shall ever touch his head.” As she kept on praying before God, Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah was praying in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Sober up!” And Hannah replied, “Oh no, my lord! I am a very unhappy woman. I have drunk no wine or other strong drink, but I have been pouring out my heart to God. Do not take your maidservant for a worthless woman; I have only been speaking all this time out of my great anguish and distress.” “Then go in peace,” said Eli, “and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.” She answered, “You are most kind to your handmaid.” So the woman left, and she ate, and was no longer downcast.
Early next morning they bowed low before God, and they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah and God remembered her. Hannah conceived, and at the turn of the year bore a son. She named him Samuel, meaning, “I asked God for him.” And when the man Elkanah and all his household were going up to offer to God the annual sacrifice and his votive sacrifice, Hannah did not go up. She said to her husband, “When the child is weaned, I will bring him. For when he has appeared before God, he must remain there for good.” Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do as you think best. Stay home until you have weaned him. May God fulfill His word.”
So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a jar of wine. And though the boy was still very young, she brought him to the House of God at Shiloh. After slaughtering the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. She said, “Please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you and prayed to God. It was this boy I prayed for; and God has granted me what I asked of God. I, in turn, hereby lend him to God. For as long as he lives he is lent to God.” And they bowed low there before God. And Hannah prayed: My heart exults in God; I have triumphed through God. I gloat over my enemies; I rejoice in Your deliverance. There is no holy one like God, Truly, there is none beside You; There is no rock like our God. Talk no more with lofty pride, Let no arrogance cross your lips! For God is an all-knowing God; By God actions are measured. The bows of the mighty are broken, And the faltering are girded with strength. People once sated must hire out for bread; People once hungry hunger no more. While the barren woman bears seven, The mother of many is forlorn. God deals death and gives life, Casts down into Sheol and raises up. God makes poor and makes rich; God casts down, God also lifts high. God raises the poor from the dust, Lifts up the needy from the dunghill, Setting them with nobles, Granting them seats of honor. For the pillars of the earth are God’s; God has set the world upon them. God guards the steps of God's faithful, But the wicked perish in darkness— For not by strength shall humans prevail. The foes of God shall be shattered; God will thunder against them in the heavens. God will judge the ends of the earth. God will give power to God's king, And triumph to God's anointed one.
The God took note of Sarah as God promised, and God did for Sarah as God had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken. Abraham gave his newborn son, whom Sarah had borne him, the name of Isaac. And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham That Sarah would suckle children! Yet I have borne a son in his old age.” The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you. As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.” Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. When the water was gone from the skin, she left the child under one of the bushes, and went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears. God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink. God was with the boy and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became a bowman. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
At that time Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. Therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my kith and kin, but will deal with me and with the land in which you have sojourned as loyally as I have dealt with you.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.” Then Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. But Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this; you did not tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.” Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a pact. Abraham then set seven ewes of the flock by themselves, and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What mean these seven ewes which you have set apart?” He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from me as proof that I dug this well.” Hence that place was called Beer-sheba, for there the two of them swore an oath. When they had concluded the pact at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to the land of the Philistines. [Abraham] planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of God, the Everlasting God. And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines a long time.