Chapter 3

Samuel’s Call.^{[a] 1} Young Samuel ministered to the Lord under Eli. Now the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there were not many visions. ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow so weak so that he could not see well anymore, was lying down in his place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of God was kept.^{[b] 4} The Lord called out, “Samuel.” He answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, go back and lie down.” He went and lay down.

⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel.” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, my son, lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time. He got up and went to Samuel and said, “Here I am, you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord had called him. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So he went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Then the Lord came and stood and called out as he had the other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am going to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring. ¹² On that day I will bring against Eli all of the things that I have proclaimed against his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have told him that I would judge his household forever because of the sin about which he knew, because his sons brought a curse upon themselves and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt will never be atoned from Eli’s house by either sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until the morning, and then he opened the doors to the house of the Lord. However, he was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli, ¹⁶ but Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son,” and he answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ He said, “What is it that the Lord said to you? Please, do not hide it from me. May the Lord do it to you^[c] and even more if you hide anything from me of all those things that he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. He then said, “He is the Lord, let him do what seems best to him.”

¹⁹ Samuel the Prophet. Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba,^[d] knew that Samuel had been confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of the Lord.