1 Samuel 1:6-8

1:6 Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, ¹  for the Lord had not enabled her to have children. 1:7 Peninnah ²  would behave this way year after year. Whenever Hannah ³  went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah ⁴  would upset her so that she would weep and refuse to eat. 1:8 Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? ⁵  Am I not better to you than ten ⁶  sons?”

Isaiah 4:1

4:1 Seven women will grab hold of

one man at that time. ⁷ 

They will say, “We will provide ⁸  our own food,

we will provide ⁹  our own clothes;

but let us belong to you ¹⁰  –

take away our shame!” ¹¹ 

Hosea 9:11

The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile

9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;

what they value ¹²  will fly away.

They will not bear children –

they will not enjoy pregnancy –

they will not even conceive! ¹³ 

Luke 1:25

1:25 “This is what ¹⁴  the Lord has done for me at the time ¹⁵  when he has been gracious to me, ¹⁶  to take away my disgrace ¹⁷  among people.” ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “and her rival wife grieved her, even [with] grief so as to worry her.”

² tn The MT has a masculine form of the verb here יַעֲשֶׂה (ya’aseh, “he used to do”); the subject in that case would presumably be Elkanah. But this leads to an abrupt change of subject in the following part of the verse, where the subject is the rival wife who caused Hannah anxiety. In light of v. 6 one expects the statement of v. 7 to refer to the ongoing actions of the rival wife: “she used to behave in this way year after year.” Some scholars have proposed retaining the masculine form but changing the vocalization of the verb so as to read a Niphal rather than a Qal (i.e., יֵעֲשֶׂה, ye’aseh, “so it used to be done”). But the problem here is lack of precedent for such a use of the Niphal of this verb. It seems best in light of the context to understand the reference to be to Hannah’s rival Peninnah and to read here, with the Syriac Peshitta, a feminine form of the verb (“she used to do”). In the translation the referent (Peninnah) has been specified for clarity.

³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Hannah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Peninnah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “why is your heart displeased?”

⁶ sn Like the number seven, the number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number (see, for example, Dan 1:20, Zech 8:23).

⁷ tn Or “in that day” (ASV).

⁸ tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”

⁹ tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.

¹¹ sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.

¹² tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”

¹³ tn Heb “no childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception.” The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to the three parallel nouns functions in a privative sense, indicating deprivation (BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7).

¹⁴ tn Grk “Thus.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “in the days.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “has looked on me” (an idiom for taking favorable notice of someone).

¹⁷ sn Barrenness was often seen as a reproach or disgrace (Lev 20:20-21; Jer 22:30), but now at her late age (the exact age is never given in Luke’s account), God had miraculously removed it (see also Luke 1:7).

¹⁸ tn Grk “among men”; but the context clearly indicates a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") here.