1
Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord !
The Lord has made me strong. 1
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
2
No one is holy like the Lord !
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3
“Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
he will judge your actions.
4
The bow of the mighty is now broken,
and those who stumbled are now strong.
5
Those who were well fed are now starving,
and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
6
The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave 2 but raises others up.
7
The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
8
He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord ’s,
and he has set the world in order.
9
“He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
10
Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength 3 of his anointed one.”
11
Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.