“I didn’t call ⸤you⸥, son,” he responded. “Go back to bed.” ⁷Samuel had no experience with the Lord, because the Lord’s word had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸The Lord called Samuel a third time. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹“Go, lie down,” Eli told Samuel. “When he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I’m listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his room.

¹⁰The Lord came and stood there. He called as he had called the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak. I’m listening.”

¹¹Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am going to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring. ¹²On that day I am going to do to Eli and his family everything I said from beginning to end. ¹³I told him that I would hand down a permanent judgment against his household because he knew about his sons’ sin—that they were cursing God^b—but he didn’t try to stop them. ¹⁴That is why I have taken an oath concerning Eli’s family line: No offering or sacrifice will ever ⸤be able to⸥ make peace for the sins that Eli’s family committed.”

Read in Logos

1 Samuel 3:10: And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Footnotes

b 3:13 Ancient scribal tradition, Greek, and Latin; Masoretic Text “cursing themselves.” At times some scribes would alter the text when they thought it was disrespectful to God.