Bible Strands
1 Samuel 1:3
Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Elkanah’s annual journey to Shiloh during the period when Eli’s sons serve as priests at the sanctuary. This establishes the religious routine and family structure before detailing the distribution of sacrificial portions.
The words — The Hebrew phrase מִ/יָּמִים\׀ יָמִ֔ימָ/ה (mi./ya.Mim / ya.Mi.ma/h) literally renders “from days toward days,” stressing the unbroken, year-after-year repetition of the pilgrimage. The verb עָלָה (‘a.Lah) denotes a physical ascent to the worship site.
The thread — This pattern of annual pilgrimage to a designated sanctuary parallels the family’s yearly journey to Jerusalem in Luke 2:41 and fulfills the Deuteronomy 12:5 command to seek the place God chooses. The gathering at Shiloh also reflects the initial assembly of the congregation at Joshua 18:1 when the Tent of Meeting was established.
Why it lands — The text establishes a fixed rhythm of worship and priestly service that frames the family’s personal struggles. It requires the reader to observe how routine religious practice creates the backdrop for divine intervention and human conflict.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
Cross-references
- Luke 2:41 Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
- Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Joshua 18:1 Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,
- Exodus 23:14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
- Exodus 34:23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.
- 1 Samuel 1:9 So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 1:21 Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,
- Judges 18:31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.
- Exodus 23:17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.