> [[1-samuel-02|← Previous]] | [[1-samuel-00|TOC]] | [[1-samuel-04|Next →]] --- # 1 Samuel, Chapter 3 ## Chapter 3 **Revelation to Samuel.** 1 During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli, the word of the LORD was scarce and vision infrequent. ^1-samuel-03-1 2 One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see. ^1-samuel-03-2 3 The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was. ^1-samuel-03-3 4 The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” ^1-samuel-03-4 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep. ^1-samuel-03-5 6 Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But he answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” ^1-samuel-03-6 7 Samuel did not yet recognize the LORD, since the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. ^1-samuel-03-7 8 The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. ^1-samuel-03-8 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, ^1-samuel-03-9 10 the LORD came and stood there, calling out as before: Samuel, Samuel! Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” ^1-samuel-03-10 11 The LORD said to Samuel: I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring. ^1-samuel-03-11 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have said about his house, beginning to end. ^1-samuel-03-12 13 I announce to him that I am condemning his house once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them. ^1-samuel-03-13 14 Therefore, I swear to Eli’s house: No sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime. ^1-samuel-03-14 15 Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, ^1-samuel-03-15 16 but Eli called to him, “Samuel, my son!” He replied, “Here I am.” ^1-samuel-03-16 17 Then Eli asked, “What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus to you, and more, if you hide from me a single thing he told you.” ^1-samuel-03-17 18 So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, “It is the LORD. What is pleasing in the LORD’s sight, the LORD will do.” ^1-samuel-03-18 **Samuel Acknowledged as Prophet.** 19 Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to go unfulfilled. ^1-samuel-03-19 20 Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD. ^1-samuel-03-20 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, manifesting himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word. Samuel’s word spread throughout Israel. ^1-samuel-03-21 \* (3:2] – [18) The call of Samuel: This section may be divided as follows: 1. the triple summons (vv. [2] – [9]); 2. God’s revelation (vv. [10] – [14]); 3. Samuel informs Eli (vv. [15] – [18]). \* (3:3) Not yet extinguished: referring to the nighttime setting of this narrative (cf. ([[exodus-27|Ex 27]]:20] – [21]) and foreshadowing a permanently extinguished lamp when the ark is captured and Shiloh destroyed. \* (3:14) [Lv 4:3] – [12] presents another view: the offering of a bull can expiate priestly sin. \* (3:17) May God do thus to you, and more: an oath formula which strengthens Eli’s demand by threatening divine punishment if Samuel does not obey. Cf. [14:44]; [20:13]; [25:22]; [2 Sm 3:9], [35]; [19:14]. a. (3:3) ([[exodus-27|Ex 27]]:20] – [22]. b. (3:11) [[2-kings-21|2 Kgs 21]]:12. c. (3:13) [1 Sm 2:27] – [36]. d. (3:19) [1 Sm 2:21]. e. (3:20) [Jgs 20:1]; [2 Sm 3:10]; [17:11]; [24:2]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[1-samuel-02|← Previous]] | [[1-samuel-00|TOC]] | [[1-samuel-04|Next →]]