A prayer of the Bible
Hannah's Prayer
Prayed by Hannah · 1 Samuel 1-2
Hannah's prayer (1 Samuel 1) is the raw, wordless-with-grief prayer of a childless woman who poured out her soul to God, was misjudged as drunk by the priest, and was heard. Her later song of praise (1 Samuel 2) became a model for Mary's Magnificat.
The prayer
The moment, and what it teaches
Hannah wanted a child and could not have one, and the ache had gone on for years, sharpened by a rival who taunted her. So she went to the house of God and prayed the way the truly desperate pray: her lips moved but no sound came, her whole body bent around a grief too heavy for volume. Eli the priest, watching, assumed she was drunk. She was not. She was, in her own words, pouring out her soul before the LORD.
Two things make this prayer a gift to everyone who has prayed from the bottom. First, God is not offended by raw, complaining, tear-soaked prayer; he receives it. Hannah does not tidy herself up. She brings 'the abundance of my complaint and grief.' Second, when God answered and gave her a son, she did not clutch him; she gave him back, and then she sang. Her song, that God lifts the poor from the dust and fills the hungry, is so great that Mary would echo it centuries later when told she would bear the Christ.
She did not tidy herself up before God. She poured out her soul, and he received every wordless word.
Pray it yourself
These prayers were not written to be admired from a distance. They were prayed by frightened, hoping, ordinary people, and the same God still listens. The Living Bread is a quiet place to pray, to be prayed for, and to learn to talk with God honestly, at your own pace.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Hannah's prayer about?
- In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah, unable to have children, prayed so intensely and silently that the priest thought she was drunk. She poured out her grief to God, vowed to give her son back to him, and was answered with the birth of Samuel. Her song of praise follows in 1 Samuel 2.
- What does Hannah's prayer teach about prayer?
- That God welcomes raw, grief-filled, even wordless prayer; Hannah brought 'the abundance of my complaint and grief.' It also models open-handed faith: she gave the answered prayer, her son, back to God, and responded with praise.