1 Samuel - Chapter 3

¹ Now, the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence of Eli; in those days it was rare for Yahweh to speak; visions were uncommon.

² One day, it happened that Eli was lying down in his room. His eyes were beginning to grow dim; he could no longer see.

³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in Yahweh's sanctuary, where the ark of God was,

⁴ when Yahweh called, 'Samuel! Samuel!' He answered, 'Here I am,'

⁵ and, running to Eli, he said, 'Here I am, as you called me.' Eli said, 'I did not call. Go back and lie down.' So he went and lay down.

⁶ And again Yahweh called, 'Samuel! Samuel!' He got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am, as you called me.' He replied, 'I did not call, my son; go back and lie down.'

⁷ As yet, Samuel had no knowledge of Yahweh and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ Again Yahweh called, the third time. He got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am, as you called me.' Eli then understood that Yahweh was calling the child,

⁹ and he said to Samuel, 'Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, "Speak, Yahweh; for your servant is listening." ' So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Yahweh then came and stood by, calling as he had done before, 'Samuel! Samuel!' Samuel answered, 'Speak, Yahweh; for your servant is listening.'

¹¹ Yahweh then said to Samuel, 'I am going to do something in Israel which will make the ears of all who hear of it ring.

¹² I shall carry out that day against Eli everything that I have said about his family, from beginning to end.

¹³ You are to tell him that I condemn his family for ever, since he is aware that his sons have been cursing God and yet has not corrected them.

¹⁴ Therefore -- I swear it to the family of Eli -- no sacrifice or offering shall ever expiate the guilt of Eli's family.'

¹⁵ Samuel lay where he was until morning and then opened the doors of Yahweh's temple. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision,

¹⁶ but Eli called Samuel and said, 'Samuel, my son.' 'Here I am,' he replied.

¹⁷ Eli asked, 'What message did he give you? Please do not hide it from me. May God bring unnameable ills on you and worse ones, too, if you hide from me anything of what he said to you.'

¹⁸ Samuel then told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Eli said, 'He is Yahweh; let him do what he thinks good.'

¹⁹ Samuel grew up. Yahweh was with him and did not let a single word fall to the ground of all that he had told him.

²⁰ All Israel knew, from Dan to Beersheba, that Samuel was attested as a prophet of Yahweh.

²¹ Yahweh continued to manifest himself at Shiloh, revealing himself to Samuel there,

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