1 Samuel 1:11 (Contemporary English Version)
11 “Lord All-Powerful, I am your servant, but I am so miserable!
Please let me have a son. I will give him to you for as long as he lives, and his hair will never be cut.”
Samuel 1:14 -18 (MSG)
“You’re drunk! You’re drunk! How long do you plan to keep this up? Sober up, woman!”
“Oh no no no, sir—please! I haven’t been drinking any wine or any strong drink. The only thing I’ve been doing is pouring out my heart, pouring it out to God. Don’t, for a minute, think I’m a bad woman. It’s because I’m so desperately unhappy and in such pain that I’ve stayed here so long.”
“Go in peace woman. And may the God of Israel give you what you have asked of Him.”
1 Samuel 1:21-28 (Contemporary English Version)
The next time Elkanah and his family went to offer their yearly sacrifice at the temple, he took along a gift that he had promised to give to the Lord. But Hannah stayed home, because she had told Elkanah, “Samuel and I won’t go until he’s old enough for me to stop nursing him and then I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the LORD and dwell there forever.”
“You know what’s best,” Elkanah said. “Stay here until it’s time to stop nursing him. I’m sure the Lord will help you do what you have promised.” Hannah did not go to Shiloh until she stopped nursing Samuel.
When it was the time of year to go to Shiloh again, Hannah and Elkanah took Samuel to the Lord’s house. They brought along a three-year-old bull, a twenty-pound sack of flour, and a clay jar full of wine.
Hannah and Elkanah offered the bull as a sacrifice, then brought the little boy to Eli.
“Sir,” Hannah said, “a few years ago I stood here beside you and asked the Lord to give me a child. Here he is! The Lord gave me just what I asked for. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will be the Lord’s servant for as long as he lives.”
1 Samuel 2:1-10 (International Standard Version)
“My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is increased by the Lord.
I will open my mouth to speak against my enemies, because I rejoice in your deliverance.
2 Indeed, there is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides you, there is no rock like our God.
3 Don’t continue to talk proudly, and don’t speak arrogantly, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Then Elkanah and Hannah went home leaving their young boy, Samuel, to minister to the LORD in the presence of Eli.
1 Samuel 2:18-21
18 Samuel, though only a child, was the Lord’s helper and wore a little linen robe just like the priest’s. 19 Each year his mother made a little coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. 20 Before they returned home Eli would bless Elkanah and Hannah and ask God to give them other children to take the place of this one they had given to the Lord. 21 And the Lord gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord.