but to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb.
Parallel translations
- KJV But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.
- BSB But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb.
- NKJV But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
- NASB but to Hannah he would give a double portion, because he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb.
- NLT And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children.
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
Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. His love could not remove the deeper grief of her barrenness.
Overview
Elkanah's generous portion expresses real affection for Hannah despite her childlessness. The narrator plainly attributes her barrenness to the Lord, who governs even the closing of the womb. This honest acknowledgment that God ordained her affliction prepares us to see that the same God will graciously answer her prayer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 30:2Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
- Gen 29:30–31He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
- Gen 16:1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- Gen 20:18For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
- Gen 45:22He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.
- Gen 43:34He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.
- Deut 21:15If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated;
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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 1:5 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
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