Samuel served and ministered our Lord in a surplice before Eli.  And on a time as Eli lay in his bed his eyes were so dimmed that he might not see the lantern of God till it was quenched and put out.  Samuel slept in the temple of our Lord whereas the ark of God was, and our Lord called Samuel, which answered:  I am ready, and ran to Eli and said:  I am ready, thou callest me.  Which said:  I called thee not my son, return and sleep, and he returned and slept.  And our Lord called him the second time, and he arose and went to Eli and said:  Lo!  I am here, thou calledst me, which answered:  I called thee not, go thy way, and sleep.  Samuel knew not the calling of our Lord yet, ne there was never revelation showed him tofore.  And our Lord called Samuel the third time, which arose and came to Eli and said:  I am here, for thou calledst me.  Then Eli understood that our Lord had called him, and said to Samuel:  Go and sleep, and if thou be called again thou shalt say:  Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth thee.  Samuel returned and slept in his place, and our Lord came and called him:  Samuel!  Samuel! and Samuel said:  Say, Lord, what it pleaseth, for thy servant heareth.  And then our Lord said to Samuel:  Lo!  I make my word to be known in Israel that whoso heareth, his ears shall ring and sound thereof.  In that day I shall raise against Eli that I have said upon his house.  I shall begin and accomplish it.  I have given him in knowledge that I shall judge his house for wickedness, forasmuch as he knoweth his sons to do wickedly, and hath not corrected them.  Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the wickedness of his house shall not be made clean with sacrifices ne gifts never.

Samuel slept till on the morn, and then he rose and opened the doors of the house of our Lord in his surplice; and Samuel was afeard to show this vision unto Eli.  Eli called him and asked what our Lord hath said to him and charged him to tell him all:  and Samuel told to him all that our Lord had said, and hid nothing from him.  And he said:  He is our Lord, what it pleaseth him, let him do.  Samuel grew, and our Lord was with him in all his works.  And it was known to all Israel from Dan to Beersheba that Samuel was the true prophet of our Lord.  After this it was so that the Philistines warred against the children of Israel, against whom there was a battle, and the children of Israel overthrown and put to flight.  Wherefore they assembled again, and took with them the ark of God which Hophni and Phineas, sons of Eli, bare, and when they came with a great multitude with the ark, the Philistines were afraid.  Notwithstanding they fought against them manly and slew thirty thousand footmen of the children of Israel and took the ark of God.  And the two sons of Eli were slain, Hophni and Phineas.  And a man of the tribe of Benjamin ran for to tell this unto Eli which sat abiding some tidings of the battle.  This man, as soon as he entered into the town, told how the field was lost, the people slain, and how the ark was taken.  And there was a great sorrow and cry.