¹¹ Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

The Lord Speaks to Samuel

3 Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.

¹⁸ But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.^[a]

²⁸ Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they^[a] worshiped the Lord there.

Samuel Speaks for the Lord

¹⁵ Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle^[a] as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him.

Samuel’s Birth and Dedication

¹⁹ The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea,