2 One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.
3 The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.
4 The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”
5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep.
6 Again the Lord called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But he answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”
7 Samuel did not yet recognize the Lord, since the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The Lord called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the youth.