1 Samuel 3:1–21

¹All the while the boy Samuel was ministering to Jehovah before E′li, and word from Jehovah had become rare in those days; there was no vision being spread abroad.

²Now it came about on that day that E′li was lying in his place, and his eyes had begun to grow dim; he was not able to see.³And the lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was lying in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was.⁴And Jehovah proceeded to call Samuel. At this he said: “Here I am.”⁵And he went running to E′li and saying: “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said: “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.⁶And Jehovah went on to call yet again: “Samuel!” At this Samuel got up and went to E′li and said: “Here I am, for you did call me.” But he said: “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”⁷(As regards Samuel, he had not yet come to know Jehovah, and the word of Jehovah had not yet begun to be revealed to him.)⁸So Jehovah called again for the third time: “Samuel!” At that he got up and went to E′li and said: “Here I am, for you must have called me.”

And E′li began to discern that it was Jehovah that was calling the boy.⁹Consequently E′li said to Samuel: “Go, lie down, and it must occur that, if he should call you, you must say, ‘Speak, Jehovah, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰Then Jehovah came and took his position and called as at the other times: “Samuel, Samuel!” At this Samuel said: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”¹¹And Jehovah went on to say to Samuel: “Look! I am doing something in Israel which if anyone hears about, both his ears will tingle.¹²On that day I shall carry out toward E′li all that I have said respecting his house, from beginning to end.¹³And you must tell him that I am judging his house to time indefinite for the error that he has known, because his sons are calling down evil upon God, and he has not rebuked them.¹⁴And that is why I have sworn to the house of E′li that the error of the house of E′li will not be brought to exemption from punishment by sacrifice or by offering to time indefinite.”

¹⁵And Samuel continued lying down until the morning. Then he opened the doors of Jehovah’s house. And Samuel was afraid to tell E′li of the appearing.¹⁶But E′li called Samuel and said: “Samuel, my son!” At this he said: “Here I am.”¹⁷And he went on to say: “What is the word that he has spoken to you? Do not, please, hide it from me. May God do so to you and so may he add to it if you should hide from me a word of all the word that he has spoken to you.”¹⁸So Samuel told him all the words, and he did not hide anything from him. At that he said: “It is Jehovah. What is good in his eyes let him do.”

¹⁹And Samuel continued growing up, and Jehovah himself proved to be with him and did not cause any of all his words to fall to the earth.²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Be′er‐she′ba became aware that Samuel was one accredited for the position of prophet to Jehovah.²¹And Jehovah proceeded to appear again in Shi′loh, because Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shi′loh by the word of Jehovah.