1 Samuel 3

Chapter 3

The Prophetic Call to Samuel

¹Now ^athe boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And ^bword from the Lord was rare in those days, ¹visions were infrequent.

²It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now ^ahis eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well),

³and ^athe 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,

⁴that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, “^aHere I am.”

⁵Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

⁶The Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he ¹answered, “I did not call, my son, lie down again.”

^7aNow Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.

⁸So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

¹¹The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, ^aI am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

¹²“In that day ^aI will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

¹³“For ^aI have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for ^bthe iniquity which he knew, because ^chis sons brought a curse on themselves and ^dhe did not rebuke them.

¹⁴“Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that ^athe iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

¹⁵So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he ^aopened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell ^bthe vision to Eli.

¹⁶Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.”

¹⁷He said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. ^aMay God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.”

¹⁸So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “^aIt is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.”

¹⁹Thus ^aSamuel grew and ^bthe Lord was with him and ^clet none of his words ¹fail.

²⁰All Israel ^afrom Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

²¹And ^athe Lord appeared again at Shiloh, ^bbecause the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.