Then the LORD said, "I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings,

They believed, and when they heard that the LORD had come to them and had seen how they were being treated cruelly, they bowed down and worshiped.

Then we cried out for help to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. He heard us and saw our suffering, hardship, and misery.

Hannah made a solemn promise: " LORD Almighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut."

So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, "I asked the LORD for him."

Perhaps the LORD will notice my misery and give me some blessings to take the place of his curse."

Consider my distress and suffering and forgive all my sins.

Yet the LORD heard them when they cried out, and he took notice of their distress.

"Now at last the Lord has helped me," she said. "He has taken away my public disgrace!"