1 Samuel 3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
Samuel’s Call.[a] 1 Young Samuel ministered to the Lord under Eli. Now the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there were not many visions. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow so weak so that he could not see well anymore, was lying down in his place. 3 The 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 kept.[b] 4 The Lord called out, “Samuel.” He answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, go back and lie down.” He went and lay down.
6 The Lord called again, “Samuel.” Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” He said, “I did not call you, my son, lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The Lord called Samuel a third time. He got up and went to Samuel and said, “Here I am, you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord had called him. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So he went and lay down in his place.
10 Then the Lord came and stood and called out as he had the other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” 11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am going to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring. 12 On that day I will bring against Eli all of the things that I have proclaimed against his house, from beginning to end. 13 I have told him that I would judge his household forever because of the sin about which he knew, because his sons brought a curse upon themselves and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt will never be atoned from Eli’s house by either sacrifice or offering.”
15 Samuel lay down until the morning, and then he opened the doors to the house of the Lord. However, he was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli, 16 but Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son,” and he answered, “Here I am.” 17 He said, “What is it that the Lord said to you? Please, do not hide it from me. May the Lord do it to you[c] and even more if you hide anything from me of all those things that he said to you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. He then said, “He is the Lord, let him do what seems best to him.”
19 Samuel the Prophet. Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. 20 All of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba,[d] knew that Samuel had been confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 3:1 Mysteriously touched by the Lord, whose call he does not initially recognize, the boy Samuel serves his apprenticeship as a prophet, learning to listen to and transmit the word of the Lord; he thus becomes the first in the long line of the prophets (see Jer 28:8).
- 1 Samuel 3:3 The sacred lamp or candelabrum (Ex 27:20-21); in other words, it was still night.
- 1 Samuel 3:17 May the Lord do it to you: a frequently occurring formula of petition. The evil predicted in the formula is specified in some passages.
- 1 Samuel 3:20 From Dan to Beer-sheba: specifying the northernmost city, to the city of Beer-sheba in the south, emphasized that everyone in Israel was aware of Samuel’s call to be a prophet.
