- 1 Samuel
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Stories about the men called Samuel, Saul, and David
(From the book in the Holy Bible called 1 Samuel)
About these stories
These stories are about things that happened about 3,000 years ago, in the country called Israel.
Somebody wrote these stories in a big book called Samuel with lots of other stories, but it was too big, so they split it into 2 books, called 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel. They were in God’s book, that the Jewish people had before Jesus came to this earth. They are now in the 1st part of the Holy Bible, called the Old Testament.
We have not yet translated all of the stories from 1 Samuel.
The stories in this book are about 3 men called Samuel, Saul, and David.
Samuel was God’s messenger to the Israel nation. God got him to pick Saul to be their big boss. At first Saul lived the right way, but later, he went wrong. So God told Samuel that he was going to make David the next big boss of the Israel nation. David was a very young man at that time. As he grew older, Saul got jealous of him and made trouble for him.
These stories are important, and we can learn a lot from them. They help us know what God is like, and how he looks after his people. And they show us the sort of person God wants.
1
A woman that was called Hannah asked God for a baby boy of her own
1 There was a man called Elkanah. He was from Ephraim’s tribe, and he lived in a town called Ramah in the hill country. His father was Jeroham, his grand-father was Elihu, and his great grand-father was Tohu. He belonged to the Zuf family. 2 He had 2 wives called Hannah and Penninah. Penninah had some kids, but Hannah had none.
3 Every year Elkanah used to go with his family from Ramah to Shiloh. They went to Shiloh to show respect to God, the boss of everything, and to burn meat for him. At that time, God’s ceremony house was in Shiloh. An old man was there called Eli. He was the leader of God’s ceremonies. His 2 sons, Hofni and Finiyas, also worked in God’s house. They looked after God’s ceremonies too.
4 When Elkanah was in Shiloh, he used to burn meat to give it to God, and he gave some of it to his family to eat. He gave meat to Penninah and her kids. 5 His other wife, Hannah, had no kids. You see, before this time, God stopped her from having kids. But Elkanah loved her very much, so he used to give lots of meat to her. 6 But Penninah used to make fun of her because she had no kids. So Hannah got upset. 7 Every year it was like that. Whenever they went up to God’s house at Shiloh, Penninah used to make fun of Hannah until she cried. She felt so sad she couldn’t eat. 8 Her husband used to ask her, “Why are you crying? You have to eat. Don’t be sad. Don’t keep on worrying that you have no sons. I love you very much anyway.”
9 One time at Shiloh, after they finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up and went to God’s house to talk to God. The old man Eli sat on a chair at the door of God’s house. 10 Hannah was so sad. She cried and prayed to God like this, 11 “God, you are the boss of everything. I am just your worker. I’m sad. Please help me. Don’t forget about me. I want to ask you this. Let me have a little boy. If you do that, I’ll give him back to you, so he can work for you until he gets old. Nobody will cut his hair, so that other people will see that he belongs to you.”*Numbers 6:5
12-13 She talked quietly to God for a long time. Eli saw her mouth moving, but couldn’t hear anything, so he thought she was drunk. 14 He said, “Why did you come here drunk? Throw that wine away.”
15 Hannah answered, “No, old man. I’m not drunk. I haven’t drunk any wine at all. I’m a sad woman. I talked to God, and I told him my story. 16 Please don’t call me no good. I am properly sad. I want God to help me.”
17 Eli said, “Don’t worry. Go now. We Israel mob follow a good God. He will do whatever you ask him.”
18 Hannah said to him, “Thank you, old man. You have made me feel happy now.” And she left God’s house, and she went and ate some food. Her face was not sad any more.
19 The next day, Elkanah got up and went with his family to show respect and pray to God once again. Then they went home to Ramah. Then Elkanah slept with his wife, Hannah, like married people do together.
But God didn’t forget that Hannah asked for a boy. 20 Some time later, she really did have a little boy, and she named him Samuel. That name means God heard. She said, “I asked God for him, and he heard me, so I’ll name him Samuel.”
Hannah promised to give the boy Samuel to God
21 A year later Elkanah went with his family to Shiloh as usual, to show respect to God, and to burn meat and give it to him. You see, long before Elkanah promised to do that, so he wanted to keep on doing it. 22 But his wife Hannah stayed at home. She said, “My baby is still drinking my milk. After he stops drinking my milk, I will take him to Shiloh to give him to God. Then he will stay at that place all the time.”
23 Elkanah said, “All right, if you like, stay here until your baby stops drinking your milk. After that, God will help you to keep your promise.” So Hannah stayed home with her little boy while he was still drinking her milk.
24 Some time later, when the boy was bigger, he stopped drinking her milk. Elkanah went with his family as usual to God’s ceremony house at Shiloh. Hannah and her son went too. They took a big bull, a bag of flour and a big leather water bag full of wine. 25 Elkanah and Hannah killed the bull and burned it for God. Then they took the boy to Eli, the old man that looked after God’s ceremonies. 26 Hannah said to him, “Old man, do you remember me? A long time ago, I stood here with you. You heard the way I cried and prayed to God. 27 I wanted a little boy, and God heard me. He let me have this one, just like I asked. 28 Now I want to give him to God. He will work for God until he gets old.” After she told him that, they showed respect to God.

- 1 Samuel
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*1:11 Numbers 6:5

© 2026 Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia