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Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

New King James Version

1 Samuel 4:15

Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ark;   Blindness;   Eli;   Judgments;   Longevity;   Parents;   Thompson Chain Reference - Blindness;   Dimness of Vision;   Eli;   Long Life;   Longevity;   Old Age;   Vision;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ark of the Covenant;   Eli;   Philistines;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Lord's Name Taken in Vain;   Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Blind;   Eli;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Philistines, the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Heart;   Philistines;   Samuel, Books of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hophni ;   Phinehas ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Eli;   Hophni;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Eli;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blindness;   Eyes, Diseases of the;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Blindness;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eye;   Ichabod;   Iyyar;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for March 30;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
At that time Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes didn’t move because he couldn’t see.
Hebrew Names Version
Now `Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
King James Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
Lexham English Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes stayed fixed ahead and he was not able to see.
English Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.
New Century Version
Eli was now ninety-eight years old, and he was blind.
New English Translation
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; he was unable to see.
Amplified Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; his eyes were dim so that he could not see.
New American Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed and he could not see.
Geneva Bible (1587)
(Nowe Eli was fourescore and eighteene yeere olde, and his eyes were dimme that hee could not see)
Legacy Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes had set so that he could not see.
Complete Jewish Bible
‘Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed, because he was blind.
Darby Translation
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.
George Lamsa Translation
Now Eli was seventy-eight years old; and his eyes were dim so that he could not see.
Good News Translation
(Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.)
Literal Translation
And Eli was ninety eight years old, and his eyes were set, and he was not able to see.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
(As for Eli, he was fourescore and eightene yeare olde, and his eyes were dymme, so that he coulde not se.)
American Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
Bible in Basic English
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Eli was .xcviii. yeres olde, & his sight failed, him that he could not see.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.
King James Version (1611)
Now Eli was ninetie and eight yeeres old, and his eyes were dimme, that he could not see.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Now Heli was ninety years old, and his eyes were fixed, and he saw not.
English Revised Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.
Berean Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Heli was of foure score yeer and eiytene, and hise iyen dasiwiden, and he myyte not se.
Young's Literal Translation
And Eli is a son of ninety and eight years, and his eyes have stood, and he hath not been able to see.
Update Bible Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
Webster's Bible Translation
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
World English Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
New Living Translation
who was ninety-eight years old and blind.
New Life Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were weak so that he could not see.
New Revised Standard
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, Eli, was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were fixed, that he could not see.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Now Heli was ninety and eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see.
Revised Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

Contextual Overview

12 Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. 13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, [fn] for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, "What does the sound of this tumult mean?" And the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. 16 Then the man said to Eli, "I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?" 17 So the messenger answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured." 18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ninety: 1 Samuel 3:2, Psalms 90:10

and his eyes: Genesis 27:1

were dim: Heb. stood

Reciprocal: Genesis 48:10 - the eyes 1 Kings 14:4 - for his eyes Psalms 71:18 - Now Ecclesiastes 12:2 - the sun

Cross-References

Genesis 4:24
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
Leviticus 26:18
"And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Leviticus 26:21
"Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
Leviticus 26:24
then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
Leviticus 26:28
then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
1 Kings 16:7
And also the word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he killed them.
Psalms 59:11
Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power, And bring them down, O Lord our shield.
Psalms 79:12
And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
Proverbs 6:31
Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.
Ezekiel 9:4
and the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now Eli was ninety eight years old,.... Which is very properly observed, he being now come to the end of his days, and which also accounts for his blindness after mentioned:

and his eyes were dim, that he could not see; could not see the messenger, and read in his countenance, and perceive by his clothes rent, and earth on his head, that he was a bringer of bad tidings; or his eyes each of them "stood" h; were fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men be. In 1 Samuel 3:2 it is said, "his eyes began to wax dim"; but here that they "were" become dim; and there might be some years between that time and this, for Samuel then was very young, but now more grown up: though Procopius Gazaeus thinks that Eli was then ninety eight years of age, and that the affair there related was just before his death; but it rather appears to be some time before.

h קמה "stetit", Montanus; "stabant", Tigurine version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Dim - Rather, “set.” The word is quite different from that so rendered in 1 Samuel 3:2. The phrase seems to express the “fixed” state of the blind eye, which is not affected by the light. Eli’s blindness, while it made him alive to sounds, prevented his seeing the ripped garments and dust-besprinkled head of the messenger of bad news.


 
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