1 Samuel 3:9

9 So Eli said to Samuel "Go lie down. {If he calls} to you, then you must say, 'Speak Yahweh, because your servant [is] listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

1 Samuel 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 3:9

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, go, lie down
Once more;

and it shall be, if he call thee;
the voice, or the Lord by it:

that thou shalt say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth;
his meaning is, that he should not rise and come to him, as he had done, but continue on his bed, on hearing the voice again, but desire the Lord to speak to him what he had to say, to which he was ready to attend:

so Samuel went and lay down in his place;
which, as commonly understood, was in the court of the Levites, (See Gill on 1 Samuel 3:3).

1 Samuel 3:9 In-Context

7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him.

8 Again Yahweh called Samuel a third time, so he got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, because you called me." Then Eli realized that Yahweh was calling the boy.

9 So Eli said to Samuel "Go lie down. {If he calls} to you, then you must say, 'Speak Yahweh, because your servant [is] listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 Then Yahweh came and stood [there] and called out {as before}, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, because your servant [is] listening."

11 So Yahweh said to Samuel, "Look, I am doing something in Israel {which will cause} the two ears of everyone who hears it to tingle.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "And it will happen [that] if he calls"