In verses 1 and 2 Hannah praises God and speaks to him. In verse 3 she addresses those who oppose God. The verb Talk and the pronoun your are plural. Contemporary English Version highlights this shift by beginning verse 3 “I can tell those proud people” and making the rest of the verse a direct quotation of what she says to such people.

The verse is made up of two pairs of parallel lines. The first two lines have roughly the same meaning, and lines three and four are also similar in meaning. Between the two pairs is a word translated in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation as for (which may also be translated “because”), introducing lines three and four. These lines are an explanation of why it is useless for people to boast.

The LORD is a God of knowledge: literally “for a God of knowing Yahweh.” In Hebrew this is a sentence without a verb. In English is has to be supplied. The word order of the original is clearly reflected by New American Bible: “an all-knowing God is the LORD.” In languages that prefer verbal expressions in place of nouns joined by the preposition “of,” it may be better to say something like “the LORD is a God who knows everything” (New Century Version).

And by him actions are weighed: in the Old Testament God is often said to “weigh” a person’s spirit (Pro 16.2) or heart (Pro 24.12), and the meaning here is that God evaluates and judges a person’s actions. The Masoretic Text has the negative conjunction “not” in the text where Revised Standard Version has by him, but a note in the margin of the Hebrew text indicates that the text should read by him. The Hebrew words for “not” and “by him” sound almost the same in Hebrew. Just the opposite readings occur in the text and margin in verse 16 below. The Masoretic Text does not state whose actions or “deeds” (New American Bible) are meant, but the sense is clearly “all that people do” (Good News Translation). It is not clear how Revised English Bible arrived at the rendering “he governs what mortals do.” Most translations express the idea of God evaluating and judging human actions, and this is the meaning recommended here.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .