Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite:
Hannah's weeping was evidently precipitated by Peninnah's jealous and unfeeling conduct as she taunted Hannah, especially on those occasions of the annual worship at Shiloh.  Difficulties in the Hebrew text here have led some to suppose that Hannah on the particular occasion mentioned here interrupted her meal to enter the tabernacle for prayer.  This, it seems, might be supported by  1 Samuel 1:18, where it mentions Hannah's eating immediately after the account of her prayer.