Hannah (Bible)
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Hannah (or Chana) (Hebrew: חנה - "Grace [of God]) was a wife of Elkanah and the mother of the prophet Samuel as recorded in the Book of Samuel.
Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah, had provided him with children, but Hannah was childless. Elkanah favored Hannah, but her rival Penninah taunted her because the Lord had not allowed her to bear children yet.
Hannah beseeched God to grant her a child, and vowed to give that child back to God. God granted her request, and she and Elkanah conceived the baby Samuel, whom she gave to the House of the Lord at Shiloh once he had been weaned. From that day, Samuel was in the care of the high priest Eli, living his life as a Nazirite.
In Judaism she is regarded as the prime role model for how to pray. Hannah's famous prayer in 1 Samuel 2 exalts the Lord's providence, power, sovereignty and holiness. This is read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah as the haftarah.
Hannah is also a very common female name and a palindrome.
1 Samuel 2 (New International Version)
Hannah's prayer
Hannah's prayer (tefilat chana תפילת חנה)
1 Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. 2 "There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
3 "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.
4 "The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's; upon them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."
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