Abraham camped for some time near the big trees that belonged to a man called Mamreh. One day, God came to Abraham there. It happened like this. Abraham was sitting in the doorway of his tent, at the hottest part of the day,
A long time later, God tested Abraham. God wanted to see if Abraham trusted him properly, and if Abraham would do anything God told him to do. God called out, “Abraham.” And Abraham said, “Yes, God, I am listening to you.”
Then Jacob said, “One time, I had a dream. It was the month when the male and female animals join together to make babies. In that dream, I saw male and female goats joining together, and all the male goats had black and white spots and stripes on their wool.
I am God. A long time ago, I came to you at the place called Bethel. That’s the place where you poured olive oil on top of a stone to show that it was a special place, and you made promises to me. Now leave this country straight away, and go back to your home country.” ’ ”
But that night, Laban had a dream, and he heard God talk to him in that dream. God said, “Be careful about the way you talk to Jacob. Don’t make trouble for him.”
Jacob said to them, “I can see that your father isn’t friendly to me any more. But God is still with me. He is the one that looked after my father Isaac, and he is with me.
Then God called out again, “Samuel.” So the boy got up again and went to Eli and said, “Yes? What is it? You called out to me.” The old man said, “No, boy, I didn’t call out to you. Go back and lie down.”
After that, God called out again, “Samuel.” So the boy got up, and he went to Eli again and said, “Yes? What is it? You called out to me.” Then the old man knew that it was God that called out to him,