1 Samuel 2:5-8

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ² 

but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

2:6 The Lord both kills and gives life;

he brings down to the grave ⁴  and raises up.

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

2:8 He lifts the weak ⁵  from the dust;

he raises ⁶  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ⁷ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

[2:5]  ¹ tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

[2:5]  ² sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

[2:5]  ³ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “Sheol”; NAB “the nether world”; CEV “the world of the dead.”

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”