1 Samuel 3:9 (LSB)

Passage

And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, nor had the word of Yahweh yet been revealed to him.

1 Samuel 3:8 So Yahweh called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that Yahweh was calling the young boy.

1 Samuel 3:9 And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

1 Samuel 3:10 Then Yahweh came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your slave is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:11 And Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "samuel", "down", "shall", "calls", "speak", and "yahweh". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "samuel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "So Yahweh called Samuel again for the..." into verse 10's "Then Yahweh came and stood and called...", so "said" and "samuel" 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 "samuel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.