The Prophetic Call to Samuel

3 Now ^(A)the boy Samuel was attending to the service of the Lord before Eli. And ^(B)word from the Lord was rare in those days; ^[a]visions were infrequent.

² But it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now ^(C)his eyesight had begun to be ^[b]poor 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 the Lord where the ark of God was, ⁴ that the Lord 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 and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ And the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son, go back and lie down.” ^7 (F)Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. ⁸ So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Then the Lord came and stood, and called as at the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, ^(G)I am going to do a thing in Israel, and both ears of everyone who hears about it will ring. ¹² On that day ^(H)I will carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken in regard to his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For ^(I)I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever for ^(J)the wrongdoing that he knew, because ^(K)his sons were bringing a curse on themselves and ^(L)he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that ^(M)the wrongdoing of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he ^(N)opened the doors of the house of the Lord. 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 He said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. ^(P)May God do the same to you, and more so, if you hide a single word from me of all the words that He spoke to you!” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him ^[c]everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “^(Q)He is the Lord; let Him do ^[d]what seems good to Him.”

¹⁹ Now ^(R)Samuel grew, and ^(S)the Lord was with him, and He ^(T)let none of his words ^[e]fail. ²⁰ And all Israel ^(U)from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And ^(V)the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, ^(W)because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

All the World Guilty

3 Then what ^[a]advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect. First, that ^(A)they were entrusted with the ^(B)actual words of God. ³ What then? If ^(C)some ^[b]did not believe, their ^[c]unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ^4 [d](D)Far from it! Rather, God must prove to be true, though every person be found ^(E)a liar, as it is written:

⁵ But if our unrighteousness ^[f](G)demonstrates the righteousness of God, ^(H)what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (^(I)I am speaking from a human viewpoint.) ^6 (J)Far from it! For otherwise, how will ^(K)God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie ^(L)the truth of God abounded to His glory, ^(M)why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say (just as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^(N)Let’s do evil that good may come of it”? ^[g]Their condemnation is deserved.

⁹ What then? ^[h](O)Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both ^(P)Jews and ^(Q)Greeks are ^(R)all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the ^(Y)Law says, it speaks to ^(Z)those who are ^[k]under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and ^(AA)all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because ^(AB)by the works ^[l]of the Law ^[m]none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for ^[n](AC)through the Law comes ^[o]knowledge of sin.

Justification by Faith

²¹ But now apart ^[p]from the Law ^(AD)the righteousness of God has been revealed, being ^(AE)witnessed by the ^[q]Law and the Prophets, ²² but it is the ^(AF)righteousness of God through ^(AG)faith ^(AH)in Jesus Christ for ^(AI)all those ^[r]who believe; for ^(AJ)there is no distinction, ²³ for all ^[s](AK)have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift ^(AL)by His grace through ^(AM)the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as ^(AN)a ^[t]propitiation ^[u](AO)in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, ^[v]because in God’s merciful ^(AP)restraint He ^(AQ)let the sins previously committed go unpunished; ²⁶ for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ^[w]has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then is ^(AR)boasting? It has been excluded. By ^(AS)what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ^28 [x]For ^(AT)we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works ^[y]of the Law. ²⁹ Or ^(AU)is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed ^(AV)God ^(AW)who will justify the ^[z]circumcised ^[aa]by faith and the ^[ab]uncircumcised through faith ^(AX)is one.

³¹ Do we then nullify ^[ac]the Law through faith? ^(AY)Far from it! On the contrary, we ^(AZ)establish the Law.