1 Samuel 3 Cross References - ISV

¹ The LORD Calls SamuelMeanwhile 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, was lying down in his bedroom. ³ The lamp of God had not yet been extinguished, and Samuel was lying down in the tent 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 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 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 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 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.”
¹⁵ Samuel Delivers God’s MessageSamuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD, but he was afraid to report the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel: “Samuel, my son.”
He said, “Here I am.”
¹⁷ Eli said, “What did the LORD say to you? Please don’t conceal anything from me. May God do this to you and even more 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 from him. Eli 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 predictions fail. 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 revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by means of messages from the LORD.

¹¹ Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah, while the boy was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.

¹⁸ Samuel at ShilohNow Samuel was ministering in the LORD’s presence, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.

¹⁵ Samuel Delivers God’s MessageSamuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD, but he was afraid to report the vision to Eli.

²¹ The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because he revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by means of messages from the LORD.

⁹ We see no signs for us; there is no longer a prophet, and no one among us knows the future.

¹² I’ll make people scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than gold from Ophir.

¹¹ A Famine of the Word of God“Look! The days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine throughout the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water— but rather a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. ¹² People will stagger from sea to sea, from north to east. They will run back and forth, searching for a message from the LORD, but they won’t find it.

¹ The Theft of Esau’s BlessingEventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see. One day, he called his eldest son Esau. “My son,” he called out to him.

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight had become poor from age. Because he couldn’t see well, Joseph brought them close to him, and Israel kissed them both and embraced them.

¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know,” he said. “I know. He’s going to produce a large nation, and he’s going to be very great. However, his younger brother will become even greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”

²² Judgment against Eli’s SonsNow Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵ Now Eli was 98 years old, and his vision had failed.

¹⁰ We live for 70 years, or 80 years if we’re healthy, yet even in the prime years there are troubles and sorrow. They pass by quickly and we fly away.

³ when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble, strong men will stoop down, women grinders will cease because they are few, and the sight of those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.

²⁰ The Oil for the Lamp“And you are to command the Israelis to bring you pure olive oil, extracted by hand, for the light in order to keep the lamp burning continuously. ²¹ In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to maintain the lamp stand from evening until morning in the LORD’s presence. It is to be a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation among the Israelis.”

⁷ Aaron is to offer fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he trims the lamps he is to offer it, ⁸ and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he is to offer it as a continual incense offering in the LORD’s presence throughout your generations.

² “Tell the Israelis that they are to bring to you pure oil made from beaten olives in order to keep the lamp burning continuously. ³ Outside the Canopy of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to arrange it continually in the LORD’s presence from evening until morning as an eternal ordinance throughout your generations. ⁴ He is to arrange the lamps so that they burn continuously on a ceremonially pure lamp stand in the LORD’s presence.

⁶ Her rival would provoke her severely so that she complained loudly because the LORD had closed her womb.

¹¹ Every morning and evening, they’re offering burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD, the showbread is set out on the pure table, and they take care of the golden lamp stand so its lamps can continue to burn every evening. We continue to be faithful over what the LORD our God entrusted to us, but you have abandoned him.

⁷ But I, because of the abundance of your gracious love, may come into your house. In awe of you, I will worship in your holy Temple.

⁴ I have asked one thing from the LORD; it is what I really seek: that I may remain in the LORD’s Temple all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD; and to inquire in his Temple.

⁹ The voice of the LORD causes deer to give birth, and strips the forest bare. In his Temple all of them shout, “Glory!”

¹ The Command to Offer IsaacSometime later, God tested Abraham. He called out to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.

⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Here I am.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also was among those who invoked his name. When they called on the LORD, he answered them.

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the LORD as he was asking, “Whom will I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am!” I replied. “Send me.”

⁴ He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

⁶ There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.
⁷ To each person has been given the ability to manifest the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; ¹⁰ to another miraculous results; to another prophecy; to another the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another various kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.

²⁸ God has appointed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who help others, administrators, and those who speak various kinds of languages.

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time,

²⁹ As Joseph looked up and recognized his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother about whom you spoke to me?” And he addressed him directly, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

¹⁶ The man told Eli, “I’ve just come from the battle line, and I escaped from the battle today.”
He asked, “What happened, my son?”

²² “Please,” Zadok’s son Ahimaaz continued, “No matter what happens, let me follow the Ethiopian!”
Joab asked him, “Why this request to run, my son? There’s no reward in it for you.”

² All at once some people brought him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, “Be courageous, son! Your sins are forgiven.”

²⁴ Rather, let the one who boasts, boast in this: that he understands and knows me, for I am the LORD who acts with gracious love, justice, and righteousness in the land. I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

¹⁴ “God speaks time and time again— but nobody notices— ¹⁵ in a dream or night vision, when a deep sleep falls on mankind while they sleep on their beds.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways. ¹² Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹⁹ They told Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but don’t let God speak with us, or we may die.

⁸ Let me listen to what God, the LORD, says; for the LORD will promise peace to his people, to his holy ones; may they not return to foolishness.

¹⁹ and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, man highly regarded. Be at peace, and be strong.’
“As soon as he spoke to me, I gained strength and replied, ‘Sir, please speak, now that you’ve strengthened me.’

⁶ Now get up, go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

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 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.”

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,

¹² therefore this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Look! I’m going to bring such a disaster to Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of those who hear about it will ring.

¹⁹ As often as it sweeps through, it will carry you away, for it will sweep by morning after morning in the day; but understanding this message will bring sheer terror at night,

¹⁴ Therefore, watch out! “As for me, I will once again do amazing things with this people, wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the insights of their discerning men will stay hidden.”

³ “You are to say, ‘Hear this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem!
“‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I’m about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle.

⁶ And when an alarm sounds in the city, the people will tremble, won’t they? If there is trouble in a city, the LORD has brought it about, has he not?”
⁷ The LORD’s Purposes“Truly the Lord GOD will do nothing he has mentioned without revealing his purposes to his servants the prophets.

⁵ God’s Response: The Coming Chaldean Invasion“Look out at the nations and pay attention! Be astounded! Be really astounded! Because something is happening in your lifetime that you won’t believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail.

²⁶ People will faint from fear and apprehension because of the things that are to come on the inhabited world, because the powers of heaven will be shaken.

⁴¹ ‘Look, you mockers! Be amazed and die! Since I am performing an action in your days, one that you would not believe even if someone told you!’”

¹⁹ God is not a human male— he doesn’t lie, nor is he a human being— he never vacillates. Once he speaks up, he’s going to act, isn’t he? Once he makes a promise, he’ll fulfill it, won’t he?

¹⁵ However, just as all of the good things have come about that the LORD your God promised, so also the LORD will bring upon you all of the threats until he has destroyed you from possessing this good land that he has given you.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron ²⁸ that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors’ family all the Israeli fire-offerings? ²⁹ Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I’ve commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.’
³⁰ “Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, ‘I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from me! The one who honors me I’ll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt. ³¹ The time is coming when I’ll cut away at your family and your ancestor’s family until there are no old men left in your family. ³² Distress will settle down to live in your household, and despite all the good that I do for Israel, there will never be an old man in your family forever, and you will never again have an old man in my house. ³³ Any of you whom I don’t eliminate from serving at my altar will grow tired from weeping, and their souls will grieve. All the increase of your family will die by violence. ³⁴ Here’s a sign for you—your two sons Hophni and Phineas will both die on the same day! ³⁵ And I’ll raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and according to my desire. I’ll build for him an enduring house and he will walk before my anointed one forever. ³⁶ Anyone who remains in your family will come and prostrate themselves before him for a small wage or a loaf of bread and will say, “Please put me in one of the priest’s offices so I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

⁶ But my words and my statutes that I gave as commands to my servants the prophets—did they not overwhelm your ancestors? And they returned to me: ‘The LORD of the Heavenly Armies acted toward us just as he planned to do—in keeping with our lifestyles and in keeping with our actions.’”

³³ Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words won’t ever disappear.”

¹² Eli’s Wicked SonsNow the sons of Eli were worthless men who did not know the LORD.

¹⁷ By doing this, the sin of the young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight because the men despised the LORD’s offering.

²² Judgment against Eli’s SonsNow Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²³ “Why are you doing these things that I’m hearing about?” he asked his sons, “These reports about your evil deeds are coming from all these people! ²⁴ No, my sons, I’m not hearing good news being circulated by the LORD’s people. ²⁵ If a person sins against another, God will mediate for him, but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”
But they would not follow the advice of their father; for the LORD wanted to put them to death. ²⁶ But the boy Samuel continued to grow both physically and in favor with the LORD and the people.

⁶ His father had never challenged him at any time during his life by asking him, “Why are you acting like this?” Adonijah was very handsome and had been born after Absalom.

⁴⁴ The king also reminded Shimei, “You know all the evil things that you admit you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD is going to repay you for all of your evil.

¹² Our God, you are going to punish them, aren’t you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you.”

¹⁸ Discipline your son while there is still hope— but don’t set your heart on his destruction.

¹³ Don’t withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with a rod, he won’t die. ¹⁴ Punish him with a rod, and you will rescue his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵ The rod and rebuke bestow wisdom, but an undisciplined child brings shame to his mother.

²² since you also know how often you have cursed others.

³ Your time is up! I’m sending my anger against you to judge you according to how you live your lives, and I’m going to pay you back with the consequences of all your detestable practices.

³⁰ A Command to Repent“Therefore, Israel, I’m going to judge you according to the behavior of each and every one of you,” declares the Lord GOD. “So repent and turn from all your sins so that sin won’t keep on being a stumbling block for you.

¹² “Let the nations be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; because I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

³⁷ The Cost of Discipleship
“The one who loves his father or mother more than me isn’t worthy of me, and the one who loves a son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.

²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.

³¹ “So separate the Israelis from their uncleanness so that they won’t die in their uncleanness if they defile my tent that is in their midst.

³⁰ On Willful Sin“But if some person acts with a high hand, whether a native-born or a resident alien, he blasphemes God, and that person is to be eliminated from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the law of the LORD and has broken his commands, that person is certainly to be eliminated. His iniquity will remain on him.”

²⁵ If a person sins against another, God will mediate for him, but if a person sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”
But they would not follow the advice of their father; for the LORD wanted to put them to death.

¹⁶ Indeed, you do not delight in sacrifices, or I would give them, nor do you desire burnt offerings.

¹⁴ “Nevertheless, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has revealed himself to my hearing: ‘“Surely because of you this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,’ says the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.”

¹⁶ “As for you, don’t pray on behalf of this people, don’t cry or offer a petition for them, and don’t plead with me, for I won’t listen to you.

¹ The Destiny of the JudgedThen the LORD told me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, I wouldn’t be favorably disposed toward this people. Send them out of my presence! Let them go!

¹³ There is wickedness in your obscene conduct. Even though I’ve cleansed you, your uncleanness cannot be washed away. You cannot be cleansed again until my rage against you has subsided.’

⁴ for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
⁵ The Messiah Offered One SacrificeFor this reason, the Scriptures say, when the Messiah was about to come into the world: “You did not want sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings you never took delight. ⁷ Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’ In the volume of the scroll this is written about me.” ⁸ In this passage he says, “You never wanted or took delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings,” which are offered according to the Law. ⁹ Then he says, “See, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By God’s will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.

²⁶ For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” ²⁹ How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

⁹ Hannah got up after she had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the chair by the doorpost of the tent of the LORD.

⁶ I replied, “Ah, LORD God! Look, I don’t know how to speak, because I’m only a young man.”
⁷ Then the LORD told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a young man,’ for you will go everywhere I send you, and you will speak everything I command you. ⁸ Don’t be afraid of them, because I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

¹⁰ Useless Offerings and Useless Altar Fires“Oh, that one of you would shut the Temple doors and not light useless fires on the altar! I’m not pleased with you,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and I’ll accept no offerings from you.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes, see to it that he does not have anything to be afraid of while he is with you, for he is doing the Lord’s work as I am. ¹¹ Therefore, no one should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me, because I am expecting him along with the brothers.

¹⁷ Where you die, I’ll die and be buried. May the LORD do this to me—and more—if anything except death comes between you and me.”

¹³ But if my father intends to harm you, may the LORD strike me dead if I don’t let you know and send you away so you may go safely. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father.

³⁵ Everyone tried to persuade David to have a meal while there was still daylight, but David took an oath by saying, “May God to do like this to me and more, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”

¹³ Then ask Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my own flesh and blood? So may God deal with me, no matter how severely, if from this day forward you don’t take Joab’s place as commander of my army.’

¹⁶ When he heard this, the king asked him, “How many times do I have to make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth? Now do it in the name of the LORD!”

⁵ Let one who is righteous strike me; It is an act of gracious love. Let him rebuke me, because it is oil for my head; do not let my head refuse it. My prayers continuously will be against their wicked activities.

¹⁹ Daniel’s InterpretationThen Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was greatly troubled for a while and was terrified by his thoughts. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its meaning terrify you.”
Belteshazzar responded, “Your majesty, if only the dream were about your enemies and its meaning about those who oppose you!

⁷ “It is said, house of Jacob, ‘The Spirit of the LORD is limited, if he acts this way, is he not?’ “But my words benefit those who live righteously, do they not?

⁶³ But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest told him, “I command you by the living God to tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God!”

²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won’t he?”

¹⁵ The Israelis replied to the LORD, “We have sinned, so do to us anything that’s right to do in your opinion, just please deliver us right now.”

¹⁰ But the king responded, “What do I have in common with you sons of Zeruiah? If he continues to curse—and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David!’—then who are you to be demanding to know ‘Why have you done this?’”
¹¹ So David ordered Abishai and all of his staff: “Look! My own son wants to kill me! How much more now is this descendant of Benjamin? Leave him alone and let him go on cursing, because the LORD has ordered him to do this. ¹² Perhaps the LORD will take note of my troubles and return good to me instead of curses today!”

²¹ and exclaimed: “I left my mother’s womb naked, and I will return to God naked. The LORD has given, and the LORD has taken. May the name of the LORD be blessed.”

¹⁰ But he replied to her, “You’re talking like foolish women do. Are we to accept what is good from God but not tragedy?”
Throughout all of this, Job did not sin by what he said.

⁹ I remain silent; I do not open my mouth, for you are the one who acted.

⁸ “The message from the LORD that you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, “…at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

³⁹ Why should anyone living complain, any mortal, about being punished for sin?

⁶ Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.

²² A Covenant with AbimelechAbout that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, told Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you’re doing.

² But the LORD was with Joseph. He became a very prosperous man while in the house of his Egyptian master,

²¹ But the LORD was with Joseph. He extended gracious love to him, causing the prison warden to be pleased with Joseph. ²² So the prison warden entrusted into Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were confined in prison. Whatever they did, Joseph was in charge of the work detail. ²³ The prison warden did not have to worry about anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with him. That’s why Joseph prospered in everything he did.

²⁴ Later on, the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew strong and the LORD blessed him.

²¹ The LORD took note of Hannah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel continued to grow, and the LORD was constantly with him.

⁶ The young man said, “Look, there’s a man of God in this town. The man is respected, and everything he predicts happens. Now, let’s go there. Perhaps he can tell us about the journey on which we have set out.”

¹⁴ David was successful in all that he did, for the LORD was with him.

⁵⁶ “Blessed is the LORD, who has given security to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one of his promises has failed to come about that he gave through his servant Moses.

² When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you. when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze.

²⁶ who carries out the words of his servants, and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, “It will be inhabited,” and of Judah’s cities, “They will be rebuilt,” and of her ruins, “I’ll raise them up”;

²³ “See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,”
which means, “God with us.”

²⁸ The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!”

⁸⁰ Now the child continued to grow and to become spiritually strong. He lived in the wilderness until the day he appeared in Israel.

⁴⁰ Meanwhile, the child continued to grow and to become strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor rested upon him.

⁵² Meanwhile, Jesus kept on growing wiser and more mature, and in favor with God and his fellow man.

¹¹ Final Greetings and BenedictionFinally, brothers, goodbye. Keep on growing to maturity. Keep listening to my appeals. Continue agreeing with each other and living in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!

²² May the Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with all of you! Amen.

¹ The Israelis Attack the Tribe of BenjaminThen the entire Israeli nation—from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the territory of Gilead—came out for war. The army assembled as one united force to God at Mizpah.

¹⁰ I will take away the kingdom from the dynasty of Saul by making the throne of David firm over Israel and Judah—from Dan to Beer-sheba!”

¹¹ So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle!

¹² I thank the Messiah Jesus, our Lord, who gives me strength, that he has considered me faithful and has appointed me to his service.

⁷ Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I’ll give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

¹ The Abrahamic CovenantSome time later, a message came from the LORD to Abram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great.”

⁶ Then he told the two of them: “Pay attention to what I have to say! When there is a prophet among you, won’t I, the LORD, reveal myself to him in a vision? Won’t I speak with him in a dream?

¹ The LORD Calls SamuelMeanwhile the boy Samuel was serving the LORD before Eli. A word from the LORD was rare in those days, and visions were infrequent.

⁴ The LORD called out to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁰ Later, the LORD came and stood there, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!” as he had before.
Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.”

⁷ The LORD’s Purposes“Truly the Lord GOD will do nothing he has mentioned without revealing his purposes to his servants the prophets.

¹ God Has Spoken to UsGod, having spoken in former times in fragmentary and varied fashion to our forefathers by the prophets,