1 Samuel 3
New American Standard Bible
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.
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- 1 Samuel 3:1 Lit there was no vision spreading
- 1 Samuel 3:2 Lit dim
- 1 Samuel 3:18 Lit all the words
- 1 Samuel 3:18 Lit the good in His eyes
- 1 Samuel 3:19 Lit fall to the ground
1 Samuel 3
Lexham English Bible
Samuel’s First Encounter with Yahweh
3 Now the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence[a] of Eli. The word of Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2 And then[b] one day when Eli was lying in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak so that he was not able to see) 3 and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying in the temple[c] of Yahweh where the ark of God was. 4 Then Yahweh called out to Samuel and he said, “Here I am!” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” But he said, “I did not call you. Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 And Yahweh called Samuel again, so Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” And he said, “I did not call you, my son. Go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Again Yahweh called Samuel a third time, so he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, because you called me.” Then Eli realized that Yahweh was calling the boy. 9 So Eli said to Samuel “Go lie down. If he calls[d] to you, then you must say, ‘Speak Yahweh, because your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Then Yahweh came and stood there and called out as before,[e] “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.” 11 So Yahweh said to Samuel, “Look, I am doing something in Israel which will cause[f] the two ears of everyone who hears it to tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken against his household, from beginning to end.[g] 13 I will make him know that I am about to judge his household forever because of the iniquity that he knew, for his sons were bringing curses on themselves,[h] but he did not rebuke them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be atoned for[i] by sacrifice or by offering forever.”
15 So Samuel lay down until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, but Samuel was afraid of telling 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 message[j] that he spoke to you? Please do not conceal it from me. May God punish you severely[k] if you conceal anything from me of all the words that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him all the words and did not conceal anything from him. And he[l] said, “He is Yahweh, he will do what is[m] good in his sight.”[n]
19 And Samuel grew up, and Yahweh was with him. He did not allow any of his prophecies to go unfulfilled.[o] 20 All Israel from Dan to Beersheba realized that Samuel was faithful[p] as a prophet to Yahweh. 21 And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh, for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of Yahweh.
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- 1 Samuel 3:1 Literally “in the face of”
- 1 Samuel 3:2 Literally “And it happened”
- 1 Samuel 3:3 Although the Hebrew text reads “temple,” this is a reference to the tabernacle (see 1:3, 9)
- 1 Samuel 3:9 Literally “And it will happen that if he calls”
- 1 Samuel 3:10 Literally “as an occurrence, in an occurrence”
- 1 Samuel 3:11 Literally “about which”
- 1 Samuel 3:12 Literally “begin and finish”
- 1 Samuel 3:13 LXX reads “were cursing God”
- 1 Samuel 3:14 Or “be expiated”
- 1 Samuel 3:17 Or “word”
- 1 Samuel 3:17 Literally “do to you and so may he add”
- 1 Samuel 3:18 That is, Eli
- 1 Samuel 3:18 Literally “the”
- 1 Samuel 3:18 Literally “eyes”
- 1 Samuel 3:19 Literally “He let none from all of his words fall to the ground.”
- 1 Samuel 3:20 Or “reliable” or “trustworthy”
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