1 Samuel 3

1 And the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision.2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to wax dim, so that he could not see),3 and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was;4 that Jehovah called Samuel; and he said, Here am I.5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.6 And Jehovah called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.7 Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was the word of Jehovah yet revealed unto him.8 And Jehovah called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that Jehovah had called the child.9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Jehovah; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak; for thy servant heareth.11 And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.12 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even unto the end.13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse upon themselves, and he restrained them not.14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering for ever.

15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Jehovah. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, Here am I.17 And he said, What is the thing that Jehovah hath spoken unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he spake unto thee.18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is Jehovah: let him do what seemeth him good.

19 And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Jehovah.21 And Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh; for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Jehovah.

1 SAMUEL 3

The [Lord] Speaks //to Samuel

1-2 Samuel served the [Lord] by helping Eli the priest, who was by that time almost blind. In those days, the [Lord] hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. But one night, Eli was asleep in his room, 3 and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the [Lord]'s house. They had not been asleep very longt

4 when the [Lord] called out Samuel's name.
“Here I am!” Samuel answered.

5 Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”
“I didn't call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to bed.”
Samuel went back.

6 Again the [Lord] called out Samuel's name. Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “What do you want?”
Eli told him, “Son, I didn't call you. Go back to sleep.”
7 The [Lord] had not spoken to Samuel before, and Samuel did not recognize the voice.

8 When the [Lord] called out his name for the third time, Samuel went to Eli again and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”
Eli finally realized that it was the [Lord] who was speaking to Samuel.

9 So he said, “Go back and lie down! If someone speaks to you again, answer, ‘I'm listening, [Lord]. What do you want me to do?’ ”
Once again Samuel went back and lay down.

10 The [Lord] then stood beside Samuel and called out as he had done before, “Samuel! Samuel!”
“I'm listening,” Samuel answered. “What do you want me to do?”

11 The [Lord] said:
Samuel, I am going to do something in Israel that will shock everyone who hears about it! 12 I will punish Eli and his family, just as I promised. 13 He knew that his sons refused to respect me, t and he let them get away with it, even though I said I would punish his family forever.

14 I warned Eli that sacrifices or offerings could never make things right! His family has done too many disgusting things.
15 The next morning, Samuel got up and opened the doors to the [Lord]'s house. He was afraid to tell Eli what the [Lord] had said.

16 But Eli told him, “Samuel, my boy, come here!”
“Yes, sir!” Samuel answered.

17 Eli said, “What did God say to you? Tell me everything. I'll ask God to punish you terribly if you don't tell me every word he said!”

18 Samuel told Eli everything. Then Eli said, “He is the [Lord], and he will do what's right.”

The [Lord] Helps Samuel