1 Samuel 3

Thomson^{(i) 1} Now when the child Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli the priest [in those days the word of the Lord was precious; there was no distinct vision] ² it came to pass at that time, when Eli was sleeping in his place, his eyes having then begun to be heavy, so that he could not see, ³ and before the lamp of God was replenished, and Samuel was sleeping at the temple, where the ark of God was, ⁴ the Lord called, Samuel! Samuel! Whereupon he said, Here I am, ⁵ and ran to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou didst call me. And he said, I did not call thee. Return, and go to sleep. So he returned and went to sleep. ⁶ And the Lord again called Samuel! Samuel! Whereupon he went to Eli, a second time, and said, Here I am; for thou didst call me. And he said I did not call thee, Return, and go to sleep. ⁷ Thus before Samuel knew God, or the word of the Lord was revealed to him, ⁸ the Lord proceeded to call Samuel the third time; whereupon Samuel arose, and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou didst call me. Then Eli conjectured that the Lord had called him; ⁹ therefore he said, Return my son, and go to sleep, and if he call thee thou shalt say, Speak, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went, and lay down in his place, ¹⁰ and the Lord came, and stood over against him, and called him as before. And Samuel said, Speak for thy servant heareth. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, Behold I am about to execute my words in Israel, at which both the ears of every one who heareth them shall tingle. ¹² In that day I will bring upon Eli all that I have spoken against his house, I will begin and completely finish. ¹³ I have indeed told him that I will take vengeance on his house for ever, for the iniquities of his sons. Because his sons spoke evil of God, and be did not chastise them, ¹⁴ therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated with incense or sacrifices for ever. ¹⁵ And Samuel lay till the morning, and arose early in the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, but was afraid to tell the vision. ¹⁶ Then Eli said to Samuel, Samuel, my son! And he said, Here I am. ¹⁷ And he said, What was the word spoken to thee? Hide it not from me, I pray thee. God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me, of all that was spoken to thee in thy hearing. ¹⁸ Then Samuel told him all the words. He did not hide any thing from him. Whereupon Eli said, He is the Lord. He will do what is good in his sight. ¹⁹ And Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, so that not one of his words fell to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel, from. Dan to Bersabee, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord continued to manifest himself at Selom; for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel, and it was confidently believed that Samuel would be the prophet of the Lord to all Israel, from one end of the land to the other.