1 Samuel 3 Cross References - MSB

¹ And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare and visions were scarce. ² And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room. ³ Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was located. ⁴ Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ Once again, for the third time, the LORD called to Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy. ⁹ “Go and lie down,” he said to Samuel, “and if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Then the LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel at which the ears of all who hear it will tingle. ¹² On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have spoken about his family, from beginning to end. ¹³ I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, ‘The iniquity of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’” ¹⁵ Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, ¹⁶ but Eli called to him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel. ¹⁷ “What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.” ¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. ²⁰ So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. ²¹ And the LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because there He revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.

¹⁸ Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.

¹⁵ Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

²¹ And the LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because there He revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.

⁹ There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

¹¹ Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. ¹² People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.

¹⁰ The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

³ on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly,

²⁰ And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ²¹ In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.

⁷ And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps. ⁸ When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he must burn the incense perpetually before the LORD for the generations to come.

² “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ³ Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come. ⁴ He shall tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually.

⁶ Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously.

¹¹ Every morning and every evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD. They set out the rows of showbread on the ceremonially clean table, and every evening they light the lamps of the gold lampstand. We are carrying out the requirements of the LORD our God, while you have forsaken Him.

⁷ But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.

⁴ One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple.

⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel was among those who called on His name. They called to the LORD and He answered.

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”

⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

⁶ There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people. ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.

²⁸ And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,

²⁹ When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

¹⁶ “I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.

²² Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “Regardless of whatever may happen, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”

² Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven you.”

²⁴ But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” “No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

¹⁴ For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices. ¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,

¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. ¹² Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹⁹ “Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

¹⁹ “Do not be afraid, you who are highly precious,” he said. “Peace be with you! Be strong now; be very strong!” As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

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

⁴ Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”

⁸ Once again, for the third time, the LORD called to Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy.

¹² this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.

¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.

¹⁴ Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

³ saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,

⁶ If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? ⁷ Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.

⁵ “Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you.

²⁶ Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

⁴¹ ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”

¹⁹ God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

¹⁵ But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.

²⁷ Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the offerings of the Israelites made by fire. ²⁹ Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’ ³⁰ Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no older man will be left in your house. ³² You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age. ³³ And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, your eyes will fail and your heart will grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men. ³⁴ And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day. ³⁵ Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time. ³⁶ And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

⁶ But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

¹² Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

¹⁷ Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²³ “Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people. ²⁴ No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people. ²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death. ²⁶ And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.

⁶ (His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)

⁴⁴ The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head.

¹² Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹⁸ Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be party to his death.

¹³ Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. ¹⁴ Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵ A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

²² For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

³ The end is now upon you, and I will unleash My anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

³⁰ Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.

¹² Let the nations be roused and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side.

³⁷ Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

²⁰ Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

³¹ You must keep the children of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernacle, which is among them.

³⁰ But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁴ The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

¹⁶ As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

¹ Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.

¹³ Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.

⁴ because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’” ⁸ In the passage above He says, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). ⁹ Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

²⁶ If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

⁹ So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

⁶ “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!” ⁷ But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

¹⁰ “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am. ¹¹ No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he can return to me, for I am expecting him along with the brothers.

¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

¹³ But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.

³⁵ Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”

¹³ And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

¹⁶ But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”

⁵ Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

¹⁹ For a time, Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, was perplexed, and his thoughts alarmed him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” “My lord,” replied Belteshazzar, “may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!

⁷ Should it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring good to him who walks uprightly?

⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹⁵ “We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!”

¹⁰ But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’” ¹¹ Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so. ¹² Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”

²¹ saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

¹⁰ “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

⁹ I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

⁸ But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

³⁹ Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.

² And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

²¹ the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. ²³ The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²¹ So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

⁶ “Look,” said the servant, “in this city there is a man of God who is highly respected; everything he says surely comes to pass. Let us go there now. Perhaps he will tell us which way to go.”

¹⁴ and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.

² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

²⁶ who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’

²³ “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

²⁸ The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until the time of his public appearance to Israel.

⁴⁰ And the Child grew and became strong in spirit. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

¹¹ Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen.

²² The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you all. Amen.

¹ Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.

¹⁰ to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”

¹¹ Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—a multitude like the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, that He considered me faithful and appointed me to service.

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

¹ After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

⁶ He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.

¹ And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare and visions were scarce.

⁴ Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁰ Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

⁷ Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.

¹ On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.