1 Samuel 3:17 (LSB)

Passage

And he said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.”

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 3:15 So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

1 Samuel 3:16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.”

1 Samuel 3:17 And he said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.”

1 Samuel 3:18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is Yahweh; let Him do what seems good in His eyes.”

1 Samuel 3:19 Thus Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "word", "spoke", "please", "hide", "anything", and "words". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "word", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Then Eli called Samuel and said Samuel..." into verse 18's "So Samuel told him everything and hid...", so "said" and "word" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "said" and "word" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.