The Lord Calls Samuel

3 Meanwhile the boy Samuel was serving the Lord before Eli. A word from the Lord was rare in those days, and visions were infrequent. ² At that time Eli, whose vision was growing dim,^[a] was lying down in his bedroom.^{[b] 3} The lamp of God had not yet been extinguished, and Samuel was lying down in the tent^[c] of the Lord where the Ark of God was. ⁴ The Lord called out to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”

⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am! You called me.”

“I didn’t call you,” Eli^[d] said. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Then the Lord again called out, “Samuel!”

So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am! You called me.”

He said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord and had not yet had the word of the Lord revealed to him.

⁸ Then the Lord called out to Samuel again a third time, and he got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am! You called me.”

Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy, ⁹ so Eli told Samuel, “Go lie down, and then if he calls you, answer, ‘Speak, Lord, because your servant is listening.’” Then Samuel^[e] went and lay down.

¹⁰ Later, the Lord came and stood there, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!” as he had before.

Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.”

¹¹ “Look,” the Lord told Samuel. “I’m about to do something^[f] in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears it tingle. ¹² I’ll fulfill every promise that I’ve spoken concerning Eli’s family, from beginning to end. ¹³ I’ve told him that I’m about to judge his family forever because of the iniquity that he knew about. His sons committed blasphemy^[g] and he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ Therefore I’ve sworn concerning Eli’s family that the iniquity of his family is not to be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

Samuel Delivers God’s Message

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but he^[h] was afraid to report the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel: “Samuel, my son.”

He said, “Here I am.”

¹⁷ Eli^[i] said, “What did the Lord^[j] say to you? Please don’t conceal anything^[k] from me. May God do this to you and even more^[l] if you conceal from me one word of all that he spoke to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything—he did not conceal anything^[m] from him. Eli^[n] said, “He is the Lord. May he do what seems good to him.”

¹⁹ As Samuel grew, the Lord was with him and did not let any of Samuel’s^[o] predictions fail.^{[p] 20} All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as the Lord’s prophet. ²¹ The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, because he^[q] revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by means of messages from^[r] the Lord.