1 Samuel 1:11

Plain English Version

“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.”

Cross References

Genesis 28:20

Jacob prayed to God. He said, “God, you know that I’m walking a long way to Haran. Please stay with me and look after me while I’m away. Please give me food to eat and clothes to wear. And please keep me safe, so that one day I can go back home to my family.” Then Jacob made promises to God. He said, “God, if you will do all those things that I asked, then I will respect you properly, and you Yahweh will be my God. And this special stone that I put here, it will show people that you are here in this place, and people can come here to show you respect. And I promise that whenever you give me good things, I will always split them up into 10 parts and give one part back to you.”

Genesis 29:32

This is the story about Leah and her kids. A baby started to grow inside Leah, and she had a baby boy. Leah named that baby Reuben. That name means this is my son. And Leah said, “God saw that I was sad, so he gave me a son. Now I reckon my husband will love me.”

Genesis 30:22

But Leah’s sister Rachel still wanted to have her own kids. And God was good to Rachel, and he gave her what she wanted. Before this time, Rachel didn’t have any kids, but then God let a baby start growing inside her. Rachel had a baby boy. Then Rachel said, “I used to feel shame, because I didn’t have any kids. But now, God gave me a son, so I don’t feel shame any more.”

Genesis 8:1

And then God thought about Noah and the animals with him in that big boat. And he made a strong wind blow on the flood water to help it to go down.

1 Samuel 1:10

Hannah was so sad. She cried and prayed to God like this,

1 Samuel 1:12

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.

1 Samuel 1:19

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.

1 Samuel 1:22

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.”

1 Samuel 1:27

I wanted a little boy, and God heard me. He let me have this one, just like I asked.

1 Samuel 1:28

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 2:20

Eli used to pray to God for Elkanah and Hannah like this, “God, you gave this woman a boy, just as she asked, and she gave him back to you. So give them other kids now instead of him.” Then they used to go back home.