1 Samuel 3

¹¹Behold, 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.

¹²People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹When 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.

¹⁰Now 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.

¹⁰The 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.

¹⁹But 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.”

²²Now 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.

⁴One 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.

²“Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

³Outside 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.

²⁰And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

²¹In 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.

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

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

¹¹Every 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.

⁸Then 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!”

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

⁶There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.

⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

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

⁴When 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.

¹⁵But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased

¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,

²⁹When 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.

²Just 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.”

²²Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, 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?”

²and 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.”

²⁴But 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.

¹⁴For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,

¹¹When 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.

¹²Now 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.

⁸Then 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!”

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.”

⁸I 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.

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

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.”

⁸Once 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.

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.

¹²this 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.

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.’”

³saying, ‘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,

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

⁶If 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?

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

²⁷Then 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?

²⁸And 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 food offerings of the Israelites.

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

¹⁵But 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.

¹⁹God 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?

⁶But 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.’”

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

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

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

³⁷Anyone 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;

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

³⁰Therefore, 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.

¹⁴The 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.

¹⁶As 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.

²⁵If 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.

³⁰But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the Lord and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

¹Then 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!

¹³Because 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.

⁶“Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”

⁷But 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.

⁹So 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.

¹⁰If 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.

¹¹No 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.

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.

¹⁷Where 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.”

³⁵Then 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!”

⁷Should 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?

¹³But 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.

¹⁹For 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!

¹⁶But 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?”

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.

⁸But 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.”

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

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

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

²¹saying: “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.”

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

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.”

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.

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

²²The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

²¹So 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.

¹Then 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.

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

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

¹¹Instead, 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.

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

⁷Then 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.

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

¹After 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.”

⁶He 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.

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