The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”

“There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”

Her husband Elkanah replied, “Do what you think is best, and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord confirm your word.” So Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.

“Please, my lord,” she said, “as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.

Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”

He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”

Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”

Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy.

but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am,” answered Samuel.

When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of Israel’s God must not stay here with us, because His hand is strongly against us and our god Dagon.”

The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of this holy Lord God? Who should the ark go to from here?”

The attendant answered Saul: “Here, I have a piece of silver. I’ll give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way.”

As they were climbing the hill to the city, they found some young women coming out to draw water and asked, “Is the seer here?”