1 Samuel 3
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh Calls Samuel
3 Now (A)the young boy Samuel was ministering to Yahweh before Eli. And (B)word from Yahweh was rare in those days; [a]visions were infrequent.
2 And it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now (C)his eyesight had begun to fade, and he could not see well), 3 and (D)the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of Yahweh where the ark of God was, 4 that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, “(E)Here I am.” 5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; go back, lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Then Yahweh called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he [b]answered, “I did not call, my son; go back, lie down.” 7 (F)Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, nor had the word of Yahweh yet been revealed to him. 8 So Yahweh called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that Yahweh was calling the young boy. 9 And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Then Yahweh came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your slave is listening.” 11 And Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, (G)I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day (H)I will establish against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And (I)I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for (J)the iniquity which he knew because (K)his sons have been bringing a curse on themselves, but (L)he did not rebuke them. 14 Now therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that (M)the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
15 So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he (N)opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. But Samuel was afraid to tell (O)the vision to Eli. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And he said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. (P)May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “(Q)It is Yahweh; let Him do what seems good in His eyes.”
19 Thus (R)Samuel grew, and (S)Yahweh was with him and (T)let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 So all Israel (U)from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of Yahweh. 21 And (V)Yahweh appeared again at Shiloh, (W)because Yahweh revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 3:1 Lit no vision spread abroad
- 1 Samuel 3:6 Lit said
1 Samuel 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
Samuel Becomes a Prophet
3 The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophetic vision was not common.
2 Now it happened that Eli’s eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see. Once when Eli was lying down in his place 3 and God’s lamp had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s temple, where God’s ark was. 4 The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel said, “I am here.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Eli said, “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6 Then the Lord called once more, “Samuel!”
So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
He answered, “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”
7 Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord’s presence,[a] that is, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The Lord called Samuel for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the young man. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
So Samuel went and once again lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came and stood there and called as he had the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look, I am going to do something in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 On that day I am going to carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken against his house, from beginning to end. 13 I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever because of their guilty behavior, which he knew about. This will happen because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not restrain them. 14 I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for with sacrifice or offering.”
15 So Samuel lay there until morning.[b] Then he opened the doors to the Lord’s house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. 16 But Eli called to Samuel, “Samuel, my son!”
He said, “I am here.”
17 Eli said, “What is the message that he has spoken to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God punish you severely and double it,[c] if you hide from me one word of all of the things that he spoke to you.”
18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do whatever is good in his eyes.”
19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. The Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because at Shiloh the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. ⎣So Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord for all Israel, from one end of the land to the other end.⎦[d]
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 3:7 Literally did not know the Lord
- 1 Samuel 3:15 The Greek Old Testament includes a few words that are not present in the Hebrew text. These words are marked by half-brackets in the following: So Samuel lay there until morning⎣and he got up in the morning⎦ and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. The Hebrew copyist’s eye may have jumped from the first occurrence of morning to the second.
- 1 Samuel 3:17 Literally thus may God do to you and thus may he add
- 1 Samuel 3:21 See the following note on verse 4:1.
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