1 Samuel 1:16

1Sa 1:16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.

Ver. 16. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial.] That is, Of the devil, as all drunkards are confessedly. Behemoth lieth in the fens, {Job 40:21} which Gul. Parisiensis applieth to the devil dwelling in drunken hearts. See Luk 11:24. Oh that our carousers were persuaded, as Mohammed told his followers, that in every grape there dwelt a devil!

For out of the abundance of my complaint and grief.] Not of wine, or any other inebriating liquor, whereof the Italians, besides wine, have many sorts: the most delicious they blasphemously call Lachrymae Christi. If Hannah were drunk at all, it was with her own tears, which she, poor soul, had drunk in great abundance.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 1:16. Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial, &c. — A Scripture phrase for a wicked person. Thus, when we are unjustly censured, we should endeavour not only to clear ourselves, but to satisfy our brethren, by giving them a just and true account of what they misapprehended.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:16 wicked woman (Hebrew a daughter of Belial): An expression used to describe a worthless person. Belial (“worthlessness”) is later used as a name for Satan (2 Cor 6:15). In Hebrew, a son of or daughter of a quality is a person who exemplifies that quality.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, for a daughter of Belial.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 16. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial] אל תתן את אמתך לפני בת בליעל al titten eth amathecha liphney bath Beliyael; 'Put not thy handmaiden before the faces of a daughter of Belial." "If I am a drunkard, and strive by the most execrable hypocrisy (praying in the house of God) to cover my iniquity, then I am the chief of the daughters of Belial." Or, "Give not thy handmaid to reproach) before the faces of the daughters of Belial." Several of these probably attended there for the purposes of prostitution and gain; for it is said, 1Sa 2:22, that Eli's sons lay with the women at the door of the tabernacle, though this may refer to the women who kept the door.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. a daughter of Belial] Rather, a worthless, or, wicked woman. Our translators have wrongly treated this word as a proper name in the historical books, but not elsewhere, though the alternative is generally given in the margin. It means worthlessness, and according to the usual Hebrew idiom a son or daughter of worthlessness signifies “a worthless man or woman,” and with positively bad sense, a lawless, ungodly, wicked person. If “naughty,” by which the word is rendered in Pro_6:12, had retained its archaic sense, it would be a fair equivalent. “Belial,” or more correctly “Beliar,” is used by St Paul in 2Co_6:15 as a name of Satan, the personification of all lawlessness and worthlessness. Milton naturally follows the E. V. in regarding Belial as the name of a spirit.

“Belial, than whom a spirit more lewd

Feel not from heaven, … to him no temple stood,

Or altar smoked, yet who more oft than he

In temples and at altars, when the priest

Turns atheist, as did Eli’s sons, who filled

With lust and violence the house of God.”

Paradise Lost, I. 490, ff.

grief] Lit. “provocation” (cp. 1Sa_1:6), or “vexation” as the consequence of provocation.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial,.... A yokeless, a lawless, impudent, and abandoned creature; one of the most wicked, vilest, and most profligate wretches; as she must be to come drunk into the sanctuary of God; see Sa1 25:17. Drunkenness in man is au abominable crime, but much more in a woman. The Romans (a) forbad wine to women, and drunkenness in them was a capital crime, as adultery, or any other; and indeed a drunken woman is liable to all manner of sin:

for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto; out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, whether it is matter of trouble or of joy; the heart of Hannah was full of grief, and her mouth full of complaints, on which she long dwelt, in order to give vent thereunto, and ease herself.

(a) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 14. c. 13.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Belial; "without restraint;" abandoned. (Haydock) --- Septuagint, "pestiferous." --- Sorrow. Hebrew, "meditation;" (Calmet) what preys upon my spirits. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For a daughter of Belial; for such a wicked monster, as a drunken woman is. The oppression of my spirits hath forced me to speak, and that so liberally at this time, for the case of my sinking heart.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. A daughter of Belial — The Hebrew word בליעל, beliyaal, rendered as a proper name here and frequently elsewhere in the Old Testament, means worthlessness, lowness. Our translators have rendered it variously — wicked, (Deu_15:9;) evil, (Psa_41:8;) naughty, (Pro_6:12;) ungodly, (Pro_16:27;) and scholars are now generally agreed that it is nowhere to be taken as a proper name.

It should here be rendered, a daughter of worthlessness, that is, a low, worthless, licentious woman, such as were those whom Eli’s own sons corrupted. 1Sa_2:22. Hannah besought Eli not to class her among those wretched prostitutes.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Count not, &c. - Thus when we are unjustly censured, we should endeavour not only to clear ourselves, but to satisfy our brethren, by giving them a just and true account of that which they misapprehended.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Do not deliver your maidservant. Because she had spoken harshly to him, she tried to appease him, so that he deliver her not, unprotected and disgraced, to her rival, the wicked woman.

For it is out of much grievance. That I have spoken harshly to you.

Grievance. In some instances, it [שִֹיחִי] is an expression of heartache. Another explanation of מֵרֹב שִֹיחִי, according to Targum, "because of much provocation and anger, I have prolonged my prayer until now."

And anger. My rival angers me.

Do not deliver. An expression of giving over, as in, "'Do not deliver me to the will of my tormentors."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

As (lit., before) an unbridled woman: Before the Lord, as an unbridled woman. Meaning to say, do not think that I would stand drunk like an evil woman in front of the Lord, may He be blessed. And Yonatan translated it [in the Targum] as, "Do not embarrass your maidservant before an evil woman." It appears from his words that she said, "unbridled woman," about Peninah, her rival. So she said to him, "Do not embarrass me in front of her, for she will rejoice at my misfortune, and she angers me." And the understanding of, "Do not place," is do not place me in this bad thing - do not embarrass me with it in front of this woman that is unbridled. And this explanation is correct.

For it is out of the greatness of my grievance and my anger: It is like its translation [in Targum Yonatan], "because of the abundance of my provocations and my anger did I prolong my prayer until now." Meaning to say, it is from the abundance that I have to speak before God [of] provocations that my rival provokes and angers me that I spoke in front of the Lord, may He be blessed, until now.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.