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¹ And the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Heli the priest: and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no distinct vision. ² And it came to pass at that time that Heli was sleeping in his place; and his eyes began to fail, and could not see. ³ And the lamp of God was burning before it was trimmed, and Samuel slept in the temple, where was the ark of God. ⁴ And the Lord called, Samuel, Samuel; and he said, Behold, here am I. ⁵ And he ran to Heli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me: and he said, I did not call thee; return, go to sleep; and he returned and went to sleep. ⁶ And the Lord called again, Samuel, Samuel: and he went to Heli the second time, and said, Behold here am I, for thou didst call me: and he said, I called thee not; return, go to sleep. ⁷ And it was before Samuel knew the Lord, and before the word of the Lord was revealed to him. ⁸ And the Lord called Samuel again for the third time: and he arose and went to Heli, and said, Behold, I am here, for thou didst call me: and Heli perceived that the Lord had called the child. ⁹ And he said, Return, child, go to sleep; and it shall come to pass if he shall call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak for thy servant hears: and Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ And the Lord came, and stood, and called him as before: and Samuel said, Speak, for thy servant hears.

¹¹ And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I execute my words in Israel; whoever hears them, both his ears shall tingle. ¹² In that day I will raise up against Heli all things that I have said against his house; I will begin, and I will make an end. ¹³ And I have told him that I will be avenged on his house perpetually for the iniquities of his sons, because his sons spoke evil against God, and he did not admonish them. ¹⁴ And it shall not go on so; I have sworn to the house of Eli, the iniquity of the house of Eli shall not be atoned for with incense or sacrifices for ever. ¹⁵ And Samuel slept till morning, and rose early in the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord; and Samuel feared to tell Heli the vision. ¹⁶ And Heli said to Samuel, Samuel, my son; and he said, Behold, here am I. ¹⁷ And he said, What was the word that was spoken to thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: may God do these things to thee, and more also, if thou hide from me any thing of all the words that were spoken to thee in thine ears. ¹⁸ And Samuel reported all the words, and hid them not from him. And Heli said, He is the Lord, he shall do that which is good in his sight.

¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and there did not fall one of his words to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel knew from Dan even to Bersabee, that Samuel was faithful as a prophet to the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord manifested himself again in Selom, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel; and Samuel was accredited to all Israel as a prophet to the Lord from one end of the land to the other: and Heli was very old, and his sons kept advancing in wickedness, and their way was evil before the Lord.