1 Samuel 3:18 (LSB)

Passage

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.”

Nearby Context

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.

1 Samuel 3:20 So all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of Yahweh.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samuel", "told", "everything", "nothing", "said", "yahweh", "seems", and "good". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samuel" and "told", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "And he said What is the word..." into verse 19's "Thus Samuel grew and Yahweh was with...", so "samuel" and "told" 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 "samuel" and "told" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.