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19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it to him from time to time when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord establish[a] descendants[b] for you from this woman in place of the one that she dedicated[c] to the Lord.” Then they[d] would go to their[e] home. 21 And indeed the Lord attended to[f] Hannah. She got pregnant and gave birth to[g] three sons and two daughters. But the boy[h] Samuel grew up before the Lord.[i]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 2:20 tn The Hebrew verb שִׂים (sim) means “to position, to set down, to set up, to install.”
  2. 1 Samuel 2:20 tn Heb “seed.”
  3. 1 Samuel 2:20 tc The MT reads “in place of the request which he asked of the Lord.” The LXX reads “in place of the loan which you lent to the Lord.” At Qumran 4QSama has the Hiphil form of שָׁאַל (shaʾal), “which she loaned (or entrusted) to the Lord” (cf. 1:28). The masculine verb in the MT is odd, since the context expects Hannah to be the subject. A masculine form would need to be read impersonally or repointed as a passive. The translation most closely follows 4QSama and understands the “request” to be Samuel, the requested one. A longer English translation would be “in place of the one which was requested which she dedicated to the Lord.”
  4. 1 Samuel 2:20 tc LXX “the man.”
  5. 1 Samuel 2:20 tn Heb “his.”
  6. 1 Samuel 2:21 tn The core component of Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) is “to take note of.” But it also carries the implication of acting accordingly with what is noted. When the syntax combines the Qal of פָּקַד (paqad) plus a direct object which is a person, plus contextually stated benefits, the verb regularly describes assisting or providing for someone (Brian Webster, The Cambridge Introduction to Biblical Hebrew [New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009] 230). The same verb is used to describe enabling Sara to have Isaac in Gen 21:1.
  7. 1 Samuel 2:21 tn Presumably in successive pregnancies, not as quintuplets.
  8. 1 Samuel 2:21 tn The term נַעַר (naʿar), here translated “boy,” often refers to a servant or apprentice in line for a position of authority. tc At Qumran 4QSama omits “the boy” and reads “he grew up there.” The Hebrew word “there” (שָׁם; sham) consists of the first two letters of Samuel’s name.
  9. 1 Samuel 2:21 tc The MT reads “with the Lord.” The LXX and 4QSama read “before the Lord.” The Hebrew phrasing “with (עִם; ʾim) the Lord” or “with God” is uncommon and varies in significance. The preposition indicates generally that the action in the verb is done in association with the preposition’s object. From context we understand that Samuel’s religious duties are specially in the Lord’s presence, hence the NAB and TEV “in the service of the Lord”; or the CEV “at the Lord’s house in Shiloh.” The NIV, NRSV, and NLT follow the LXX “in the presence of the Lord.”