Text -- 1 Samuel 3:18-21 (NET)

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” 3:19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. None of his prophecies fell to the ground unfulfilled. 3:20 All Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba realized that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 3:21 Then the Lord again appeared in Shiloh, for it was in Shiloh that the Lord had revealed himself to Samuel through the word of the Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 3:18

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 3:19

¹ tn Heb “and he did not cause to fall from all his words to the ground.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 3:21

¹ tc The LXX has a lengthy addition here: “And Samuel was acknowledged to be a prophet of the Lord in all Israel, from one end to the other. Eli was very old and, as for his sons, their way kept getting worse and worse before the Lord.” The Hebraic nature of the Greek syntax used here suggests that the LXX translator was accurately rendering a Hebrew variant and not simply expanding the text on his own initiative.

² tn The chapter division at this point is inappropriate. 1 Sam 4:1a is best understood as the conclusion to chap. 3 rather than the beginning of chap. 4.