The Lord Speaks to Samuel

3 Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.

³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle^[a] near the Ark of God. ⁴ Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?”

⁷ Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before.