1 Samuel 3-4

International Children’s Bible

God Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel served the Lord under Eli. In those days the Lord did not speak directly to people very often. There were very few visions.

² Eli’s eyes were so weak he was almost blind. One night he was lying in bed. ³ Samuel was also in bed in the Lord’s Holy Tent. The Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy Tent. God’s lamp was still burning.

⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “I am here!” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “I am here. You called me.”

But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.

⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel!”

Samuel again went to Eli and said, “I am here. You called me.”

Again Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”

⁷ Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The Lord had not spoken directly to him yet.

⁸ The Lord called Samuel for the third time. Samuel got up and went to Eli. He said, “I am here. You called me.”

Then Eli realized the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So he told Samuel, “Go to bed. If he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I am your servant, and I am listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in bed.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there. He called as he had before. He said, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel said, “Speak, Lord. I am your servant, and I am listening.”

¹¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am going to do something in Israel. It will shock those who hear about it. ¹² At that time I will do to Eli and his family everything I promised. I will not stop until I have finished. ¹³ I told Eli I would punish his family forever. I will do it because Eli knew his sons were evil. They spoke against me, but he did not control them. ¹⁴ So here is what I promised Eli’s family: ‘Your guilt will never be removed by sacrifice or offering.’”

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Tent of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. ¹⁶ But Eli said to him, “Samuel, my son!”

Samuel answered, “I am here.”

¹⁷ Eli asked, “What did the Lord say to you? Don’t hide it from me. May God punish you terribly if you hide from me anything he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything. He did not hide anything from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do what he thinks is best.”

¹⁹ The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up. He did not let any of Samuel’s messages fail to come true. ²⁰ Then all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,^[a] knew Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord continued to show himself to Samuel at Shiloh. He also showed himself to Samuel through his word.

4 News about Samuel spread through all of Israel.

The Philistines Capture the Ark of the Covenant

At that time the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek. ² The Philistines went to meet the Israelites in battle. And as the battle spread, the Philistines defeated the Israelites. They killed about 4,000 soldiers of the Israelite army. ³ Then some Israelite soldiers went back to their camp. The elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us? Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord here from Shiloh. In this way God will go with us into battle. He will save us from our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh. They brought back the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord of heaven’s armies. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant.

⁵ The Ark of the Covenant with the Lord came into the camp. And all the Israelites gave a great shout of joy. It made the ground shake. ⁶ The Philistines heard Israel’s shout. They asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”

Then the Philistines found out that the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had come into the Hebrew camp. ⁷ They were afraid and said, “A god has come into the Hebrew camp! We’re in trouble! This has never happened before! ⁸ How terrible it will be for us! Who can save us from these powerful gods? They are the ones who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of disasters in the desert. ⁹ Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men! In the past they were our slaves. So fight like men, or you will become their slaves.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites. Every Israelite soldier ran away to his own home. It was a great defeat for Israel, because 30,000 Israelite soldiers were killed. ¹¹ The Ark of the Covenant of God was taken by the Philistines. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

¹² That same day a man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battle. He tore his clothes and put dust on his head to show his great sadness. ¹³ When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was by the side of the road. Eli was sitting there in a chair, watching. He was worried about the Ark of the Covenant of God. When the Benjaminite entered Shiloh, he told the bad news. Then all the people in town cried loudly. ¹⁴ Eli heard the crying and asked, “What’s all this noise?”

The Benjaminite ran to Eli and told him what had happened. ¹⁵ Eli was now 98 years old, and he was blind. ¹⁶ The Benjaminite told him, “I have come from the battle. I ran all the way here today.”

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The Benjaminite answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines. The Israelite army has lost many soldiers. Your two sons are both dead. And the Philistines have taken the Ark of the Covenant of God.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the Ark of the Covenant of God, Eli fell backward off his chair. He fell beside the gate and broke his neck, because he was old and fat. And Eli died. He had led Israel for 40 years.

The Glory Is Gone

¹⁹ Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant. It was nearly time for her baby to be born. She heard the news that the Ark of the Covenant of God had been taken. She heard also that Eli, her father-in-law, and Phinehas, her husband, were both dead. So she began to give birth to her child. The child was born, but the mother had much trouble in giving birth. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women who helped her give birth said, “Don’t worry! You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not answer or pay attention. She named the baby Ichabod.^{[b] 21} She named him Ichabod and said, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She said this because the Ark of the Covenant of God had been taken. It was also because her father-in-law and husband were dead. ²² She said, “Israel’s glory is gone, because the Ark of the Covenant of God has been taken away.”