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Summary
- Hannah was a wife of Elkanah and the mother of the prophet Samuel; her story is in 1 Samuel 1–2, set in the eleventh century BC.
- Childless for years and taunted by Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, she prayed at Shiloh and vowed to give a son to the Lord for life (1 Samuel 1:11).
- The priest Eli took her silent prayer for drunkenness, then blessed her; the Talmud draws rules for Jewish prayer from the scene (Berakhot 31a).
- Her name, from the Hebrew verb chanan, “to be gracious,” means “grace” or “favor”; the Bible explains Samuel’s name by “Because I have asked him of the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:20).
- Her song (1 Samuel 2:1–10) closely parallels Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55) and is the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
- She is a different woman from Anna the prophetess of Luke 2 and from Saint Anne, the mother of Mary.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; Numbers 6:5; Judges 13:2, 5; 1 Samuel 1:1–28; 2:1–10, 18–21; 3:3, 20; 7:15; 10:1; 16:13; 1 Chronicles 6:22–28, 33–38; Luke 1:7, 46–55; 2:36–38). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon and Brown-Driver-Briggs, entries H2584 (Channah), H2580 (chen) and H8050 (Shemuel). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2584/kjv/wlc/0-1/ ; https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2580/kjv/wlc/0-1/ ; https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h8050/kjv/wlc/0-1/
- Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 31a–31b, Megillah 14a and Rosh Hashanah 11a. William Davidson Edition, English. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.31a ; https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.14a ; https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.11a
- Sefaria calendar, Rosh Hashanah I (12 September 2026): haftarah I Samuel 1:1–2:10. https://www.sefaria.org/api/calendars?year=2026&month=9&day=12&diaspora=1
- Klein (Abensohn), Lillian. “Hannah: Bible.” Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women’s Archive, 2009. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/hannah-bible
- Augustine of Hippo. The City of God, book 17, chapter 4. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120117.htm
- “5 Sermons on Hannah” (John Chrysostom, De Anna sermones 1–5, CPG 4411; English translation by R. C. Hill, St. John Chrysostom: Old Testament Homilies, vol. 1, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2003). Fourth Century Christianity, Wisconsin Lutheran College. https://www.fourthcentury.com/5-sermons-on-anna/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., paragraphs 489 and 2578. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1K.HTM ; https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P91.HTM
- Orthodox Church in America. Lives of the Saints, December 9: “Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Saint Anna” and “Prophetess Hannah the mother of the Prophet Samuel.” https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/12/09
- Henry, Hugh. “Magnificat.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09534a.htm
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