²⁴ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her. She also took a three-year-old bull,^[a] twenty-five pounds^[b] of flour, and a container of wine, and she brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh. The boy was ⎣with them. And they brought him before the Lord, and his father killed the sacrifice as he regularly did before the Lord, and he brought⎦ the boy.^{[c] 25} When they had killed the bull, they presented the child to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Excuse me, my lord. As your soul lives,^[d] my lord, I am the woman who stood here next to you, praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked for. ²⁸ So now I have also dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So he worshipped the Lord there.

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.”