1 Samuel 2:30

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ¹  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ²  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ³  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah Exalts the Lord in Prayer

2:1 Hannah prayed, ⁴ 

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

my horn ⁵  is exalted high because of the Lord.

I loudly denounce ⁶  my enemies,

for I am happy that you delivered me. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 2:27

The Lord Judges the House of Eli

2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly ⁸  reveal myself to your ancestor’s ⁹  house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah Exalts the Lord in Prayer

2:1 Hannah prayed, ¹⁰ 

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

my horn ¹¹  is exalted high because of the Lord.

I loudly denounce ¹²  my enemies,

for I am happy that you delivered me. ¹³ 

1 Samuel 6:4-15

6:4 They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”

They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders. 6:5 You should make images of the sores and images of the mice ¹⁴  that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land. ¹⁵  6:6 Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ¹⁶  When God ¹⁷  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ¹⁸  6:7 So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls. 6:8 Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way. 6:9 But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

6:10 So the men did as instructed. ¹⁹  They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls. 6:11 They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest, the gold mice, and the images of the sores. 6:12 Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

6:13 Now the residents of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were pleased at the sight. 6:14 The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 6:15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.

1 Samuel 6:1

The Philistines Return the Ark

6:1 When the ark of the Lord had been in the land ²⁰  of the Philistines for seven months, ²¹ 

[2:30]  ¹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:30]  ² tn Heb “walk about before.”

[2:30]  ³ tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “prayed and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[2:1]  ⁵ sn Horns of animals have always functioned as both offensive and defensive weapons for them. As a figure of speech the horn is therefore often used in the Bible as a symbol of human strength (see also in v. 10). The allusion in v. 1 to the horn being lifted high suggests a picture of an animal elevating its head in a display of strength or virility.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “my mouth opens wide against.”

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “for I rejoice in your deliverance.”

[2:27]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “prayed and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[2:1]  ¹¹ sn Horns of animals have always functioned as both offensive and defensive weapons for them. As a figure of speech the horn is therefore often used in the Bible as a symbol of human strength (see also in v. 10). The allusion in v. 1 to the horn being lifted high suggests a picture of an animal elevating its head in a display of strength or virility.

[2:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my mouth opens wide against.”

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “for I rejoice in your deliverance.”

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your mice.” A Qumran ms has simply “the mice.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.”

[6:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.”

[6:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they sent them away and they went.”

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the men did so.”

[6:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “field.”

[6:1]  ²¹ tc The LXX adds “and their land swarmed with mice.”