Saturday, March 01, 2008

Hannah's Prayer

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 are hungry 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;
on them he has set the world.

9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.
"It is not by strength that one prevails;

10 those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder 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."

1 Sam. 2

(I thought I would feature some scripture written by women for the next few days. It happens that this coincides with my homework on widows, orphans and other members of the class of the poor and oppressed.)

2 comments:

Wayne Leman said...

And the entire book of Hebrews may have been written by a woman, some say. Priscilla.

Esteban Vázquez said...

Suzanne, even if these texts communicate to us the "ipsissima voce" of women in Scripture (and I believe they do), could we say that they are written by women? I think we can all agree that these words in the books of Samuel and in Luke were in fact redacted by men, and that they're not vebatim quotations of the women to which the are attributed. Now, I don't believe that this affects their quality of "femenine speech," nor am I really trying to be contrarian--I'm just trying to understand your word choice here. Surely it's just that I don't get something.