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Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest.
1 Samuel 2:11 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.
  • BSB Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.
  • NKJV Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.
  • NASB Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the boy continued to attend to the service of the Lord before Eli the priest.
  • NLT Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

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.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 5

  • 1 Sam 2:18But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
  • 1 Sam 3:1The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. Yahweh’s word was precious in those days. There visions were not frequent.
  • 1 Sam 1:28Therefore I have also given him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is given to Yahweh.” He worshiped Yahweh there.
  • 1 Sam 3:15Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of Yahweh’s house. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.
  • 1 Sam 1:19They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 Samuel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 Samuel 2:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 SamuelMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 2:11 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.