The prophet and judge Samuel is one of several key figures in the Old Testament who were called by God in a special way for specific tasks within the chosen people of Israel. Samuel concludes the period of the judges and plays a key role in the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. This explains why the book of 1 Samuel pays special attention to his mother Hannah, who was barren but miraculously conceived and bore a son, Samuel, after praying fervently in the sanctuary of Shiloh for the grace of progeny and promising to dedicate her son to God. This paper will examine the obedience, faith and expression of gratitude in Hannahʾs prayer for a child in narrative form (1 Sam 1:1-28) and in her song of praise in poetic form (1 Sam 2:1-10). We will compare how these two prayers differ and what message they contain in a biblical context. We will also examine how Hannahʾs song of praise is reflected in other texts, such as Maryʾs song of praise (Magnificat) in the Gospel of Luke, the uplifting apocryphon Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum and the Targum of the Prophets from the first century AD. Particular attention is paid to antithetical examples of the expression of the main message of the prayer, that God glorifies the lowly and humbles the mighty. The aim of this paper is to identify how these texts, in a particular historical context, use literary and rhetorical devices with similar and different emphases to express the common belief in God who is always on the side of suffering individuals and the whole people when they turn to him for help. We will show how Hannah’s prayer is transmitted in different historical and literary contexts and expresses universal faith in God and his salvation for suffering people.
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