1 Samuel 1
A man named Elkanah and his household went up from his town for their annual time of worship and sacrifice to the Lord at Shiloh. Elkanah's wife, Hannah, prayed and weeped bitterly in anguish about her closed womb, and she made a vow, "LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." Eli, the priest in Shiloh, blessed Hannah saying, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him. " After returning to their home town, Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel. Later, after Samuel was weaned, Hannah took her boy and returned to the the house of the Lord at Shiloh where Eli was priest. She said to Eli, "Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD."