{On} the day Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.

But to Hannah he would give {a double portion}, because he loved Hannah, though Yahweh had closed her womb.

(Now her rival wife would provoke her severely in order to upset her because Yahweh had closed her womb.)

And so he used to do year after year; {whenever} she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her so that she would weep and would not eat.

So Elkanah her husband would say to her: "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And {why are you heartsick}? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

{While} she continued to pray before Yahweh, Eli was observing her mouth.

Now Hannah had been speaking in her heart; her lips [were] moving, but her voice could not be heard, so Eli considered her [to be] drunk.

Then Eli said to her, "How long will you behave like someone [who is] drunk? Put away your wine!"

And she said, "May your female slave find favor in your sight." Then the woman went on her way and ate [something], and {her face did not look sad any longer}.

Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh {and returned} to their house at Ramah. Then Elkanah {had sexual relations with} Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.

But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "Once the boy [is] weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear before Yahweh; and he will remain there forever."

So her husband Elkanah said to her, "{Do what seems right to you}; stay until you wean him. Only may Yahweh fulfill his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

Then she brought him up with her when she had weaned him, [along] with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh while the boy [was still] young.

His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him {year by year} whenever she came up with her husband to offer the {annual sacrifice}.

Then Yahweh called out to Samuel and he said, "Here I am!"

And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." But he said, "I did not call [you]. Go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

And Yahweh called Samuel again, so Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." And he said, "I did not call you, my son. Go back [and] lie down."

Again Yahweh called Samuel a third time, so he got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." Then Eli realized that Yahweh was calling the boy.

Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son!" And he said, "Here I am."

Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, [was] pregnant and [about] to give birth. When she heard the news concerning the capture of the ark of God and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she {went into labor} and gave birth, because her labor pains came upon her.

Just before the time of her death, those {attending her} said, "Do not fear, for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer, or {pay any attention}.

She called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," referring to the capture of the ark of God and concerning her father-in-law and husband.

So Samuel took a single stone and put [it] between Mizpah and Shen, and he named it Ebenezer and said, "Up to here Yahweh has helped us."

They [were] going up the ascent of the town when they found young women going out to draw water. They said to them, "Is there the seer here?"

When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh answered him, "Here [is] the man about whom I told you! This [is the] one [who] will govern my people."

As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to pass on before us. When he has passed, you stand here {a while}, so that I can make known to you [the] word of God."

So they inquired again of Yahweh, "{Did the man come here}?" And Yahweh said, "Look, he [is] hiding himself among the baggage."

And so then here [is] the king walking about before you. Now I am old and gray, but my sons (look at them!) [are] with you; and I have walked about before you from my youth until this day.

Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes {regarding} him?-then I will restore it to you."

So then look! [Here is] the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you!

So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering.

Saul said, "Let us go down after [the] Philistines [by] night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave [alive] a man among them." So they said, "Do all that [is] good in your eyes." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."

Then Saul said, "Come here, all [you] leaders of the people, {so that we find out} what the sin was this day.

So Saul said, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him and said, "I {merely tasted} a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die."

But Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me." Yahweh said, "You must take a heifer from the herd {with you}, and you must say, 'I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.'

Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here."

Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him."

And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today."

Now then, {what do you have at hand}? Give me five [loaves] of bread or {whatever is here}."

The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread {here at hand}; there is only holy bread, [but] only if the young men have kept themselves from women."

So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah [is] here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, [then] take it, for there is no other except it here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."

Saul said, "Listen please, son of Ahitub." He said, "Here I [am], my lord."

But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?"

When David learned that Saul [was] plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."

Then she said to her servants, "Go ahead before me; look, I am coming after you," but she did not tell her husband Nabal.

{And then}, [as] she [was] riding on the donkey and [was] going down the ravine of the mountain, David and his men [were] coming down to meet her, and she met them.

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before {David's anger}, and she bowed down to the ground.

Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have {granted your request}."

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his [own] head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife.

So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife."

She got up and bowed down [with] her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

Then Abigail {quickly got up} and rode on the donkey, [along with] five of her maidservants who {attended her}, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear; let one of the young men come over and take it.

So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor."

Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing."

The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!"

Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down.

Then the commanders of [the] Philistines said, "What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]?" And Achish said to the commanders of [the] Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me {for days and years}? I have not found anything [threatening] in him from the day of his desertion until this day!"

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

Then David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "{Here is} a gift for you from the plunder of the enemies of Yahweh!"