As Hannah kept on praying before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth.
Parallel translations
- WEB As she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli saw her mouth.
- KJV And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.
- ESV As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.
- NKJV And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth.
- NASB Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth.
- NLT As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As Hannah kept praying, Eli watched her mouth. The detail prepares for his misjudgment of her silent prayer.
Overview
Hannah's prolonged, earnest prayer drew Eli's attention. Because he could see her lips but hear no words, he misread the scene. The moment exposes both Hannah's persevering devotion and the spiritual dullness of Eli, who failed to recognize true piety when he saw it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Th 5:17Pray without ceasing.
- Jas 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Luke 18:1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:
- Eph 6:18Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
- Col 4:2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,
- Luke 11:8–10I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.