^3:4The Lord called to Samuel, and he replied, “Here I am!” ^3:5Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli² said, “I didn’t call you. Go back and lie down.” So he went back and lay down. ^3:6The Lord again called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli³ said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.”

^3:7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ^3:8Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. ^3:9So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back and lie down. When he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

^3:10Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!” ^3:11The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel;⁴ when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle. ^3:12On that day I will carry out⁵ against Eli everything that I spoke about his house—from start to finish! ^3:13You⁶ should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of⁷ the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God,⁸ and he did not rebuke them. ^3:14Therefore I swore an oath to the house of Eli, ‘The sin of the house of Eli can never be forgiven by sacrifice or by grain offering.’ ”

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

2 Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 The Hebrew text adds “so that” here, formally connecting this clause with the next.
5 Or “fulfill.”
6 The has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (véhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (véhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.
7 The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So §119.p.
8 The translation follows the θεόν (theon, “God”) rather than the לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. , ). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the here is secondary. The present translation follows the (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologountes theon) and a few of the Old Latin in reading “God” rather than the “to them.” Cf. also , , .