1 Samuel 1:16
in 1 Samuel 1Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Count not thy handmaid for a wicked woman; for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken hitherto.
KJV
Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verseCount not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial,.... A yokeless, a lawless, impudent, and abandoned creature; one of the most wicked, vilest, and most profligate wretches; as she must be to come drunk into the sanctuary of God; see 1Sa 25:17. Drunkenness in man is au abominable crime, but much more in a woman.
This site's exposition
I am a woman oppressed in spirit
on 1 Samuel 1:15-16
Hannah corrects the priest without anger, calling herself “a woman oppressed in spirit” who has “poured out my soul before the LORD”. She asks Eli not to take her “for a wicked woman”, and the same word returns at 2:12, where Eli's own sons are called wicked men. The reader is left to notice the distance.
This site's exposition
Do not take your servant for a wicked woman
Behind wicked woman stands the phrase daughter of Belial, which John Gill glosses as a lawless and abandoned woman, the kind who would come drunk into the sanctuary. Adam Clarke thinks such women did gather at the tabernacle, as 2:22 shows of Eli's sons. Hannah names her anguish instead.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 1 · Written before 604.
proposed
34. As if to say: She who speaks to you of the goods of eternal life does not deserve to be despised as an idolater. She also asserts that she is His handmaid, so that he might recognize from the name of her ministry that she desires to serve him for eternal gains. It follows: "Because out of the multitude of my grief and sorrow I have spoken until now."
Responding Anna, No, my lord, she said, etc. The Church from the gentiles, responding, said, No, O priest of Judea, consider not burdened by sins she who has already been purified by the font of baptism and the participation of the sacred body and blood, …
Do not consider your servant as one of the daughters of Belial, etc. Do not compare me to souls deceived by diabolical fraud; for I, doing penance from the heart for my sins, have renounced Satan and all his works and pomps: moreover, I have …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(1.) In justice to herself, she expressly denies the charge, speaks to him with all possible respect, calls him, My lord, intimates how very desirous she was to stand right in his opinion and how loth to lie under his censure. "No, my lord, it is not as you suspect;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial - אל תתן את אמתך לפני בת בליעל al titten eth amathecha liphney bath Beliyael; ‘Put not thy handmaiden before the faces of a daughter of Belial.” “If I am a drunkard, and strive by the most execrable hypocrisy (praying in the house of God) to cover my iniquity, then I am the chief of the daughters of Belial.” Or, “Give not thy handmaid (to reproach) before the faces of the daughters of Belial.” Several of these probably attended there for the purposes of prostitution and gain; for it is said, 1Sa 2:22, that Eli’s sons lay with the women at the door of the tabernacle, though this may refer to the women who kept the door.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This mistaken impression was immediately removed, and, in the words, "God grant," or rather, "will grant," was followed by an invocation which, as Hannah regarded it in the light of a prophecy pointing to the accomplishment of her earnest desire, dispelled her sadness, and filled her with confident hope [1Sa 1:18].
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּתֵּן֙ | titen | you give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲמָ֣תְךָ֔ | ʾamatekha | maidservant your | H519 → | 56 times |
| לִפְנֵ֖י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | a daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| בְּלִיָּ֑עַל | beliyaal | worthlessness | H1100 → | 27 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מֵרֹ֥ב | mero | from [the] greatness of | H7230 → | |
| שִׂיחִ֛י | sichi | complaint my | H7879 → | |
| וְכַעְסִ֖י | vekha'si | and provocation my | H3708 → | |
| דִּבַּ֥רְתִּי | dibarti | I have spoken | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הֵֽנָּה׃ | henah | now | H2008 → | 49 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תִּתֵּן֙you give
titenH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֲמָ֣תְךָ֔maidservant your
ʾamatekhaH519 →56 times
לִפְנֵ֖י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
בַּת־a daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
בְּלִיָּ֑עַלworthlessness
beliyaalH1100 →27 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
מֵרֹ֥בfrom [the] greatness of
meroH7230 →
שִׂיחִ֛יcomplaint my
sichiH7879 →
וְכַעְסִ֖יand provocation my
vekha'siH3708 →
דִּבַּ֥רְתִּיI have spoken
dibartiH1696 →1141 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
הֵֽנָּה׃now
henahH2008 →49 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 2:12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 6:15
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 1:28–30
Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- Jeremiah 2:8
The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
- Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Judges 2:10
After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel.
- 2 Corinthians 6:15
Through
Deuteronomy 13:13that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),
it leads to
- 1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of…
- Deuteronomy 13:6
If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor…
- Deuteronomy 13:2
and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”
- 1 John 2:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.