And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only Jehovah establish his word. So the woman tarried and gave her son suck, until she weaned him.

And Elcana her husband said to her: Do what seemeth good to thee, and stay till thou wean him: and I pray that the Lord may fulfil his word. So the woman stayed at home, and gave her son suck, till she weaned him.

And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what is good in thy sight: abide until thou hast weaned him; only, may Jehovah fulfil his word. And the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

And Elkanah her husband saith to her, 'Do that which is good in thine eyes; abide till thy weaning him; only, Jehovah establish His word;' and the woman abideth and suckleth her son till she hath weaned him,

And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems you good; tarry until you have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman stayed, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

And her husband Elkanah said to her, Do whatever seems right to you, but not till you have taken him from the breast; only may the Lord do as he has said. So the woman, waiting there, gave her son milk till he was old enough to be taken from the breast.

And Elkanah her husband said to her, 'Do what seems good in your eyes. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish what you have said.' So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.

And her husband Elkanah said to her: "Do what seems good to you, and stay until you wean him. And I pray that the Lord may fulfill his word." Therefore, the woman remained at home, and she breastfed her son, until she withdrew him from milk.

Until thou have weaned him - On the nature of this weaning, and the time in which it was usually done, the reader will be pleased to refer to the note on Genesis 21:8.
The Lord establish his word - Or, may the Lord establish his word - preserve the child, cause him to grow up, and make him a blessing to Israel.

And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his (i) word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
(i) Because her prayer took effect, therefore it was called the Lord's promise.

And Elkanah her husband said unto her, do what seemeth thee good,.... He spake like a kind and indulgent husband, knowing that she would not thereby break any law of God; and it might be more for her own health, and the health of the child, to stay longer:
tarry till thou have weaned him; when he would be more fit for the journey, and to be left behind:
only the Lord establish his word; which some understand of the prophecy of Eli that God would grant her request, which being delivered under the direction of the Spirit of God, is called his word; but this was already fulfilled, and established by Hannah's bearing a son: or the word "his" refers not to the Lord, but to Samuel, and so may respect the word which his mother spake concerning him; either when she made her vow, as Abendana, that he should be a perpetual Nazarite, and the Lord's as long as he lived: and so Elkanah wishes that he might have health and grow strong, and be fit for the service of the Lord, and live many years to perform it; or what she had just now said, as Abarbinel, that he should abide in the house of God for ever, or as long as he lived:
so the woman abode; at home, while Elkanah and his family went up to Shiloh:
and gave her son suck until she weaned him; did not put him out to a wet or dry nurse, but suckled him herself with what nature had provided for his nourishment, as becomes women to do, if their circumstances of health, and the provisions of nature, will admit of it.

Elkanah expressed his approval of Hannah's decision, and added, "only the Lord establish His word," i.e., fulfil it. By "His word" we are not to understand some direct revelation from God respecting the birth and destination of Samuel, as the Rabbins suppose, but in all probability the word of Eli the high priest to Hannah, "The God of Israel grant thy petition" (1-Samuel 1:17), which might be regarded by the parents of Samuel after his birth as a promise from Jehovah himself, and therefore might naturally excite the wish and suggest the prayer that the Lord would graciously fulfil the further hopes, which the parents cherished in relation to the son whom they had dedicated to the Lord by a vow. The paraphrase of דּברו in the rendering given by the lxx, τὸ ἐξελθὸν ὲκ τοῦ στόματός σου, is the subjective view of the translator himself, and does not warrant an emendation of the original text.

His word - His matter or thing; the business concerning the child, what thou hast vowed concerning him, that be may grow up, and be accepted and employed by God in his Service.