The Lord GOD says, “Look, the days are coming when I will cause a famine in the land. The people will not be hungry for bread. They will not be thirsty for water. No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
You will hear one sad story after another. You will hear nothing but bad news. You will look for a prophet and ask him for a vision. The priests will have nothing to teach you, and the elders will not have any good advice to give you.
The boy Samuel was Eli’s helper and served the Lord with him. At that time the Lord did not speak directly to people very often. There were very few visions.
“This is why it is like night for you and you don’t have visions. You cannot see what will happen in the future, so it is like darkness to you. The sun has gone down on the prophets. They cannot see what will happen in the future, so it is like darkness to them.
Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground. The bars on her gates are completely destroyed. Her king and princes have been taken to other nations. The teaching of the law has stopped. And her prophets no longer receive visions from the Lord.
But the blood on your houses will be a special sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over your house. I will cause bad things to happen to the people of Egypt. But none of these bad diseases will hurt you.
God also proved it by using miraculous signs, wonders, and all kinds of miracles. And he proved it by giving people various gifts through the Holy Spirit in just the way he wanted.
I also told them about all the special days of rest, which were a special sign between us. They showed that I am the Lord and that I was making them special to me.